


Snuffed Out

by noicetyfluffity



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Female Monkey D. Luffy, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lawlu endgame, Luffy Being Luffy, Muteness, Nakamaship, The Luffy and Zoro dynamic is pretty prominent too, maybe slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 28,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27805756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noicetyfluffity/pseuds/noicetyfluffity
Summary: “I’M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!!!”A loud declaration echoing, throughout the seas, for the whole world to hear.The echo of it eventually died out.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy & Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 144
Kudos: 260





	1. The moment that started it all

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!!
> 
> So this is a work in progress. Just wanna know your thoughts on it...
> 
> Also sorry if the number of comments is a bit misleading (I tend to answer comments... That's why...)

“I’M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!!!”

When Shanks heard that, he scoffed as warmth blossomed in his chest. His features softened into a small secretive smile. Kind gentle eyes gazed down at the little girl with the small foolish scar under her eye. “So you’re gonna be better than us? Well then…”

He bent down and took off his strawhat, feeling like the weight of an era was now being handed to the crying child in front of him who all but sobbed when it finally rested over her hair. “Do me a favor… Keep this hat safe for me?”

This was the moment that started it all…

The words of a King.

A loud declaration echoing, throughout the seas, for the whole world to hear.

What the legend would forget to mention though is that, at some point, the echo eventually died out.

And there was no one to shout it back time and time again for the poor souls who dared to forget.

That shout was snuffed out.

One that is much stronger came to replace it, though.

And this is the moment that ended it all.

“SABOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

That one too eventually died out.

Nothing came to replace it this time, though.

“What do you mean there’s nothing wrong with her?!” Ace shouted at the town doctor, which prompted Makino to intervene.

“Sorry, we’re just really high strung… What he meant is, she used to be able to talk normally a day ago. Now suddenly, she can’t?”

“Yes… While running my diagnosis I couldn’t find any external symptoms.”

“External?” Makino goaded him to continue while the feeling of dread welled up in her.

“I strongly believe that Luffy is experiencing traumatic mutism.” The doctor put down his medical tools before looking at all two of his guests and then at his patient. “From what I gathered, she lived through a traumatic experience. As a result, her mind enacted a defensive measure to cope with it…”

“How do we undo it?” Ace asked, while looking increasingly distraught at Makino’s horrified and shocked face. “We can undo it, right?”

“It’s not that simple…”

The answer broke something in Ace as he reminisced back to what he said not long after finding out about Sabo’s death.

_“Shut up already!! Real pirates don’t sit around crying, Luffy!”_

Watching Luffy silently tearing up and trying to furiously hide the way her tears were falling down, Ace couldn’t help but think… _“I know you told me to look after her for you, Sabo… B-But I failed… We both knew this was inevitable. I failed and I took her voice in the process. This is all my fault.”_

As Luffy and he were walking silently back to the bandits house, Ace couldn’t stop his tears from making their way down his cheeks as he felt all his frustrations breaking the dam. _“Who would have thought I’d come to miss her nonsensical energetic ramblings… But I do. I want them back… I want Sabo back… I want them back so bad. Useless… Such a fucking failure… I can’t do this. I ca-…”_

His internal monologue was interrupted when he felt a hand slip into his own while tiny fingers interlaced with his. He turned around and saw Luffy’s tear stained face looking up at him from under her moisty eyelashes with a small smile and a squeeze to the hand in her hold.

Her eyes seemed to be filled with relief and gratefulness as she clung to his hand like a lifeline, while mouthing ‘Okay’ with her head tilting a little to the side to indicate it was phrased as a question.

Gritting his teeth at the unfairness of it all and at his selfish breakdown episode, Ace turned around and closed the distance between them to pull Luffy into a soul crushing hug. “Listen up, Luffy, and remember this!! I’m not going to die!!!” At that, Luffy sucked in a surprised breath as Ace all but hit the bullseye of her worries… “Sabo asked me to look after you…” He felt her starting to shiver in his arms as his shirt gradually became wet. “So I’m not gonna die, no matter what!! That’s a promise. I’ve got your back and there’s no way in hell I would leave my weak little sister all on her own. So you focus on getting better, getting stronger.” He broke his hold to lean a little down and stare at her in the eyes with new resolve and determination. “Don’t worry about me, crybaby. Let me take care of everything, and just worry about yourself, got that?”

Luffy nodded in the middle of her sniffling. Satisfied, Ace turned back to continue walking only to be surprised when he felt her take a hold of his hand again. He looked back and saw her fidgeting nervously. Tuning around to hide a small smile, he squeezed her hand and mumbled. “Yeah, you can continue holding my hand… At least this way, I’ll know you’re still behind me.”

To say that this made them grow closer would be an understatement. As much of an understatement as saying that Ace didn’t develop a sixth sense for when Luffy was endangered, because he had; and this made leaving her all the more difficult.

This was their promise, she said. The promise they made to Sabo long before his promise of always taking care of her took effect. This superseded that, and with this Luffy concluded the most complicated statement she ever had to sign.

So, it was with smiles on their faces that brother and sister bid their goodbyes with the promise of meeting again on the sea someday, harboring no regrets.

Makino sure was worried as she looked at Luffy happily waving back at them as she set out to the sea. After all, she was there to watch this little girl grow up. And although she misses her voice so much, she can’t help but feel proud at how Luffy handled it.

She was as much a bundle of joy as she was before. What she can’t say she makes up with her actions. Still, she did end up learning sign language. Which, by the way, surprised the hell out of Makino when Luffy AND Ace came to her expecting her to teach them.

Needless to say, Makino was sure Luffy was well on her way to fulfilling her lifelong dream. Didn’t stop her from worrying… Then again, Luffy did end up knocking out the Sea King with one punch.

“Oh boy… This is gonna be rough.” The mayor said, to which she nervously laughed.

“I’m sure she survived…”

“With her insane luck? Yeah, probably!” Woop Slap shook his head. “The sea hates devil fruit users, sure… But something tells me, it has a soft spot when it comes to Luffy.”

“You’re a romantic at heart, huh, Mayor!” The man in question flinched as he turned and saw Dadan and the bandits all gathered around them.

Making sure to come after the townspeople went back to their homes, Dadan turned her sights towards Luffy’s dinghy and screamed. “Don’t you come back here until you become Pirate King, you brat!!!”

Voice loud enough for the girl to hear, she turned back and gave Dadan a huge hearty smile, nodding and raising both of her hands in acknowledgment. Then, she got sucked into a whirlpool…

“That was anticlimactic.”


	2. Chaotic meets Demonic

When Luffy woke up next, it was to a pink haired boy and a freakily massive woman. Next thing she knows, she was on a wild goose chase trying to find what might very well be the first member of her crew.

He noticed her briefly before the Lieutenant’s son made his entrance along with Rika. It only took a minute for her to be all up on his business again after the whiny man made his exit. When he noticed her, he hissed. “You still haven’t left yet? Leave now! Or else he’ll go tell his dad about it.” Getting nothing but silence and careful appraisal, he grew impatient. “You’re not much of a talker are you?” That earned him a shake of the head. “Do you understand?! If he comes back and finds you, he actually won’t stop at just giving you a chiding. He’ll kill you.” Luffy planted her feet and crossed her arms, her stare turning serious. “It’s your funeral.” Then he got an idea. “If you’re sticking around… Would you mind picking that up for me? Just give it to me. Let me eat all of it!” He gestured at the sullied rice balls.

Tilting her head, looking at the food on the ground and back at Zoro. Picking it up, she fed it to Zoro and watched him swallow it at the same time as a huge smile showed on her face. 

In hindsight, Coby should have expected this to be the next turn of events as he witnessed Luffy knock out Captain Morgan’s son.

What he didn’t expect is for Luffy to try and draw what she wants to say to Zoro, and for the supposed monster demon to try and figure out what the sand drawings are.

It went something like this.

Luffy drew a cross. “Is this supposed to mean no?”

At the shake of her head, Zoro continued. “Are you trying to start a game of tic tac toe?”

Luffy frowned at that, but she still shook her head. She drew an oval shape with two circles in the top, a triangle in the middle and cubes in the bottom. “Two round cups of sake, one triangle cup of sake and cubic shots of sake?”

Luffy stared dumbfoundedly at him, before looking back at her drawing and conceding.

Zoro looked even more frustrated than her. “Is this a game? Can’t you just talk?!”

The girl shrugged in disinterest then seemed to perk up as she hurried to fish two pieces of paper from her shorts pocket. Those were the only papers Makino gave her before she went on her journey.

_“Until you find someone on your crew who knows how to translate sign language, you’ll need these to actually be able to recruit said members.”_

She opened them and turned them around to show Zoro. After a suspenseful couple of minutes, he noted. “They’re upside down.”

She seemed peeved as she adjusted them. “They’re a bit smudgy.” Luffy shrugged. “Come closer so I can read them.”

Doing just that, Zoro was finally able to get what she was trying to say. “You want me to join your pirate crew?” Luffy nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely not! I don’t want to be a pirate.” He got a pitiful pout. “No, I have things that I need to do; besides, I’m not going to be a bad guy like a pirate. I haven’t done one thing that I regretted in the past and I’m not going to start now.” For some reason, this made Luffy’s features relax even more around him. “I won’t become a pirate.”

She watched him for a moment, looked down at the papers she had and smiled mischievously. Somehow, Zoro didn’t have a good feeling about this.

Then, Luffy starting swinging her arm around, clearly trying to emulate sword fight. “Are you dancing?!”

Luffy sighed dejectedly, stopped, walked closer to Zoro and gestured at him and his hand before swinging her arm slowly.

“If you’re trying to say swords, then I gotta say, this doesn’t help your case in convincing me to join your crew.” Zoro deadpanned which prompted Luffy to stick her tongue out.

She then jumped back to her previous drawing went to its left drew a poor imitation of a sword. Really it was just a rectangle with a line coming out of it. Drawing an arrow starting from the sword and leading up to the desolate pirate flag, she turned back around to face Zoro with a question mark, written all over her face.

“You want… To get me my swords back in exchange to joining your crew?”

The way she lit up and nodded excitedly had Zoro actually fighting off an amused scoff. He would have lost that battle if it weren’t for the backhanded tactic she was using. “That’s dirty!!”

She shrugged happily, turned around and started heading the opposite way from where the headquarters were. “Oi wait!”

Next thing he knows, she was launching herself up to the roof. Dumbfoundedly, he mumbled. “She didn’t even wait for me to give her an answer… What the hell is she planning?! What a fool.”

Turns out, she did have a plan. A chaotic plan. He supposes he’ll have to get used to those. Wait… Wait… No, he’s not joining her. No Zoro, you’re not joining her!

His internal struggle was cut short in a definitive and decisive manner when a simple glance in his way made sure a sort of fighting synchronization took place seamlessly.

“Leave it to me, Captain!”

Zoro was still reeling with the exhilaration of finally finding someone he vibes so much with and a peer with pretty much equal standing when it comes to fighting.

Too bad, he was too busy fainting out of hunger.

Setting out to sea in a small dinghy that barely fits and with a girl that’s crazy and freakishly strong was not how Zoro saw his Wednesday going. It really all comes down to the fact that somehow this same girl managed to convince him that joining her pirate crew, which comprised of no one, was the right decision to make. If Zoro had to put it in words, he’d say that her determination, commitment and steadiness when it comes to her ideas were what actually changed everything.

Then, she got herself captured by a bird!

“How is this my life?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you'll like this!  
> Trying to be real quick about working myself up to where I actually want to get in the story.
> 
> Also I'm considering Luffy/Zoro along with Luffy/Law... Still didn't decide though.


	3. Some really weird pirates

As he was holding off a large number of clowns from killing his captain and the other woman with her, in the face of Luffy’s obvious giddiness at having him show up, he couldn't help but reiterate. “How did you rope me into this?” Luffy only shrugged while the red haired woman began studying him.

Then, he had to lift up the cage with his captain in it, all while dealing with a stab wound. Still, he couldn’t find it in himself to actually be annoyed or even worried as he watched her play around with the dog.

Another thing Zoro noticed is the way Luffy seems to be smiling knowingly at the thief, Nami, who looked to be increasingly flustered. That was until…

“Yeah no that’s definitely not it. I have a debt to repay.” Nami said.

“Wait! You’re communicating with her?!” Zoro exclaimed suddenly, surprising the cat burglar.

“What do you mean I’m communicating with her?” Nami sighed, clearly tired at having to interact with the pair.

“You’ve been having a conversation this whole time?” He reiterated, “did I pass out?”

Nami actually considered him, “wait… You mean to tell me, you don’t know sign language?”

“Sign what?!”

At that, Nami’s facial expression was just that of a person who’s ready to die. “How the hell have you two survived this long?!” She gritted out, frustrated. “How do you guys talk?! How did you know she wanted you to fire that Buggy special canon-ball? How the hell does this pirate crew work?!” Luffy and Zoro looked at each other before shrugging synchronously. Suddenly, Nami seemed to actually see it as he watched her nod to herself.

“I take it you understand?”

“Yes.” She pulled out something from her pocket and threw it on the ground, “You two are fucking insane and I want no part in it. Here’s your key. I stole it, but now that I think about it, I should have tried to steal their treasure instead. At least I’m done with your crazy shit.”

Zoro looked at Luffy for a second before saying the same time he watched Nami grimace, “She’s telling you that you can’t go, you’re our navigator.”

“YEAH I UNDERSTOOD.” The redhair growled. “How the hell did you?”

“I honestly have no idea what you want me to say.”

Fortunately, this mindboggling conversation was put to an end when the dog decided to eat Luffy’s only way out and the swordsman fainted again due to blood loss. He really gotta stop doing that.

After they rid a town from a psychotic clown, the dinghy that used to have only the two of them was now tied to a second boat that Nami stole from Buggy’s pirate crew… “So you did join us after all?”

“I didn’t.” She hissed at him while also trying to knit back Luffy’s strawhat. “I allied myself to you.” Luffy was there nodding her head along to the conversation.

“Are you going to tell me all about your secret conversations, now?” Zoro inquired.

“Why would I? You already speak Luffy’s language.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Not literally no… But you do.” She commented. “I only get what she’s saying because I know sign language.” He was just about to ask when she hastily interrupted him, “It’s mainly based on hand gestures. Words are conveyed through hand gestures and so it’s a good alternative for speaking.”

“In other words, when it comes to non-fighting stuff, you can translate for the rest of us?”

“If by rest of us, you mean you, then yes……” The way she ended her sentence was ominous as hell. This was confirmed when not a second later, an evil smile etched its way on her face. “But it’s gonna cost you.”

“What?!” His eyes widened.

“How about we start with 500000 bellis?”

“Are you fucking insane?!”

“That’s a deal then.” Nami concluded while Luffy was busy laughing wholeheartedly at their interaction.

Zoro growled before settling back to his position with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed, mumbling to himself. “Witch…”

Which only got him a punch to the head that had him practically weeping. “Again… How is this my life?!”

Luffy tilted her head at him, as Zoro glared at her and then Nami for scoffing amusedly.

“She’s saying ‘Stupid Zoro’.”

“Yeah! I got that. Thanks for nothing!” He grunted, before falling asleep, his body fully relaxing for the first time since that godforsaken island.

“Yeah, he’s out.”

Though, Zoro was still conscious enough to be able to hear Nami speaking, but it was increasingly becoming distant.

“I’m really surprised you managed to actually accomplish something.” She scoffed. “I know you have a connection. But that can only go so far…” A little silence suggested that Luffy was actually trying to tell her something. “Yes okay! Okay I’ll be your navigator. Jeez! You’re like a broken record.” He felt the dinghy suddenly jostle as Luffy no doubt jumped excitedly. “It’s only temporary! Now I mended the cuts… It’s not perfect, just try not to poke it too much.” A beat later, “What did I just tell you?!”

The following punch would have made Zoro feel sorry for Luffy, but by that time he was already unconscious.

When he came to next, he quickly noticed warmth against his left side. He cracked open his eyes and tried to locate its origin, only to find it belonged to Luffy who apparently snuggled up to him and fell asleep against him.

“If you dare move, I’m gonna kill you.”

Zoro groggily scowled. “I’d like to see you try.”

Nami just glared at him. “I just managed to get her to finally calm the hell down and do something other than nearly falling into the sea or messing up the sail. Don’t ruin this quiet for me.”

Considering her words, Zoro went back to look at his captain who seemed to be deep in her sleep. “Wake me up if anything happens.”

Nami nodded at him and watched him go back to his nap, but not before he angled his body slightly in Luffy’s direction. Unconsciously, his head slowly tilted a bit to the side to rest against Luffy’s.

“Those are some really weird pirates…”


	4. Peas in a pod

“Shit, it’s cold!” Nami hissed as nighttime came and the two idiots she’s lumped with were still asleep. “Who knew she’s gonna be one hell of a heavy sleeper…”

She observed them for a bit, while rubbing her arms trying to get some warmth back into them. All her attempts ended in failure as a gust of wind chilled the soul right out of her. She was just going to curl in on herself and try to preserve her body heat when she heard Zoro call out to her.

“Hey, witch!” She glared at the green haired muscle head on the dinghy. “I’m gonna take night watch.”

“No way! I can do it myself.”

“I wasn’t asking.” Zoro replied nonchalantly.

“Yeah no can do.”

Zoro sighed. “You’re so pigheaded.”

Nami seethed. “Wanna repeat that?!”

“Night watch’s on me. There’s no negotiation.”

“Alright you’re gonna owe me 100000 bellis then.”

Zoro’s eyes widened. “The fuck?! Shouldn’t you be the one owing me?!”

“There’s no negotiation here.” Nami shot right back at him.

The swordsman sighed long-sufferingly, “Fine whatever.”

Silence reigned again as Nami continued to try to get herself warm enough to actually slightly doze off now that Zoro’s taken the night watch, but it ended up in vain. So she settled for observing him, and she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Is that comfortable for you?”

“What is?” He didn’t even look at her.

“Luffy sleeping on you like that. Isn’t your arm falling asleep? Can you really handle night watch?”

He rolled his eyes. “I usually fight with three swords, but I can handle myself with two and even one. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“That wasn’t my main question though.”

This time he made eye contact before looking down at Luffy still dozing off on his arm. Drooling really. “I am comfortable.”

Nami grimaced at the visual. “Doesn’t look like it.” Zoro didn’t say anything to that. But the red haired thief didn’t seem to have finished. “How long have you two known each other?”

“A week.”

“A week?!” She exclaimed.

“This is what I said… Or at least I think it’s been a week.”

“You two seem to be completely in synch. I thought you’d be childhood friends or something. Then again, you don’t know sign language…”

“Is that a necessary requirement?”

“Well yeah! If you want to communicate like normal people.”

“We do.”

“How?! Telepathy?”

Zoro shrugged. “Sure, looks like we’ve got that working for us…”

“Yeah…” Nami smiled a bit, “it does look like the case.”

“You’re always so talkative?!” He said which earned him an indignant gasp from her.

“And here I was feeling sorry for you about having to spend the whole night alone.”

“Cut the crap. You’re clearly cold. So why don’t you come here and huddle up. Body heat helps.”

She looked at him skeptically. “No I won’t.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Did no one ever teach you manners?”

“Manners won’t make me into the greatest swordsman in the world.”

Nami considered him, “That’s…” She tilted her head. “Is that your dream?”

“Yeah…” He glanced at her. “Why?”

She looked away, her voice taking a longing undertone. “Nothing… I think it’s great.” After two beats of silence, she spoke up again. “And she’s gonna help you?”

“What are you talking about?” Zoro looked at her as if she grew a second head. “Hers is becoming the Pirate King.”

At this, Nami couldn’t contain herself and she started laughing out loud, until Luffy started stirring, looking like she’s about to wake up, only Zoro reassured her. “Go back to sleep.” Nami snorted again at that, which she had to cover up as it earned her a glare from Zoro. The glare soon softened up as Luffy settled back into her previous drooling position.

“So she wants to be the ‘King’ of the Pirates?” Nami hummed, “I must say… Not bad. The Pirate King’s crew member… If you can’t even accomplish a dream as small as yours, then it would very embarrassing for her.”

Zoro huffed, a small grin appearing on his face. “Well said.”

“You guys are peas in a pod, huh?”

“Something tells me you’re not that far behind yourself.” He observed, before changing the subject. “Just go to sleep… Will you?”

Nami giggled, then got up, crossed the links between the two boats and settled next to Luffy. “Good night.”

“Nothing good’s gonna come out of being indebted to you, witch.”

As she huddled up to her temporary captain, Nami couldn’t help but think how Zoro’s words rang truer than he could imagine… So true it only helped feed off her hatred for that fucking fishman.

The unsettling thoughts were chased out as Luffy caught her hand, which was sitting awkwardly in mid-air, as Nami didn’t know where to put it. The black haired captain decided for her and made Nami hug her from the back as she caught her hand in a sure grip even though she was in the middle of her sleep.

This was the quickest time Nami ever fell asleep since that fateful day… And she couldn’t believe it was because of those pirates.

_“Maybe there are good pirates out there after all.”_ She thought before passing out.

She woke up slowly, languid in her movements as sleep took its times to leave her limbs. Becoming aware of her surroundings slowly, Nami opened her eyes to find Luffy smiling at her as if she was waiting for the cat burglar to fall asleep next to her… As if she knew. “Shut up.” Nami grumbled.

Zoro glanced at her disinterestedly, showing no particular care as to what she’s doing, which was convenient because all she wanted to do now was to hop on her own boat and stay the hell away from them… She was becoming too invested. This wouldn’t do.

Lost in her thoughts, Nami missed Luffy signing at her, so she had to do a double take. “Sorry Luffy, could you repeat that?” Luffy nodded, and restarted. “No… You mean to tell me you don’t have food in here?” She stared at her ‘captain’ dumbfoundedly, “why would I have brought food?! I was on the run. You’re the pirates.” She sighed when Luffy answered. “How are you still alive?!”

Luffy pointed towards an island and tilted her head. “No way!! This island is dangerous and unpopulated!” Nami cried out, but to no avail, as she watched Luffy put on her determined face and start rowing her boat towards the island.


	5. The echoes of a crew’s dreams

The dynamic between the three lasted all throughout the meeting with Gaimon and Syrup Village, then it came to a head when they reached Baratie. But let’s back up a little.

Somehow, they acquired along the way a fourth member… A certain liar with a knack for shooting from a distance, creating gadgets and cowering away at every possible turn. Unsurprisingly, Usopp and Luffy hit it off quite easily. Where Zoro was the steady rock vibrating at the same frequency as Luffy, Usopp was the one she could always count on to keep the conversation running and fill the silences that Luffy couldn’t fill.

She would sit through all of his stories with stars in her eyes, getting excited at all the right moments. There’s also the fact that he immediately started to ask Nami for pointers on how to learn sign language, which, by the way, he picked up fairly quickly. Soon enough, the crew already had an additional member who knew sign language.

Which only meant for “My job here is done.” to be the statement Nami chose to utter next.

“Your job? Weren’t you a member of their crew?” Yosaku asked her, while they waited in Baratie.

“Um… Yeah.” She looked back at the bounty poster, she had in her hands a couple of moments before. “Would you mind turning around for a bit… I want to change my clothes.”

Not a minute later, both Yosaku and Johnny were in the water, watching as Nami steered the Going Merry towards her ultimate destination. “Tell them that if we’re truly linked by fate, we’ll meet again. It was short being with Luffy and the others… But it was a lot of fun.”

_One crew mate was lost._

When she went out on this adventure, Luffy didn’t expect it to be easy, but things went sideways pretty fast. After they passed Nami’s message to her, Luffy was put in a difficult position. Fortunately for her, both Usopp and Zoro, went to follow her navigator while she was busy getting her cook.

If only he understood what she was trying to tell him. Then again, she was always more adept at conveying what she wants with her actions.

_Another one was added._

It was the first time Luffy ever saw this manic glint in Zoro’s eyes. It’s mainly why she was so adamant about not letting anyone interfere with his fight. This was his dream. This was his first step towards his dream and she would be damned if she got in the way of that. So she watched.

She watched, and had to witness the one called Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, nearly kill her first mate. Her first mate who ended up tying his dream to hers, when he declared:

“I will never lose to anyone ever again, do you have a problem with that, Pirate King?”

How he guessed what her dream is without her telling him explicitly, warmed Luffy’s heart as she smiled her iconic smile and nodded, turning her back on Mihawk after deeming him not a threat…

Temporarily not a threat though… But that’s a story for another time.

_The initial one went down for the count._

Now Luffy had to pull her crew’s pieces back together. Upon meeting up with Nami again, facing Arlong and destroying Arlong Park, Luffy was finally able to rest as she saw in her navigator’s eyes, the absolute certainty of belonging somewhere and having someone watch her back.

Nami didn’t have to fight alone anymore, and she recognized it as Luffy emerged from the ruins of Arlong Park and leveled her with the most mature look, the redhead ever saw on Luffy's face. She did the only natural thing one could do in front of such a display of unbound loyalty and comradeship, she nodded, holding onto the strawhat resting on top of her head.

The dreams of Luffy's crew were her responsibilities, and she vowed to treasure them and protect them until those dreams get achieved at the end.

Then their captain almost got herself killed. By none other than Buggy the Clown on the very same platform that killed the Pirate King, nonetheless. She also gained a marine enemy in the form of Smoker… Somehow, they were able to escape unscathed due to some insane amount of luck.

“Teach me.”

Nami looked at him funnily. “Manners? Gladly.” Zoro growled.

“What’s a brute like you doing near Nami-chwan, mosshead?” Sanji offered a cold drink to Nami.

Zoro chose to ignore him, which prompted a hiss from Sanji. The swordsman instead chanced a glance towards the figurehead where Luffy was casually taking a nap. “Teach me.”

Their navigator narrowed her eyes. “Sign language?” This effectively made Sanji shut up.

“Yes.” Zoro acquiesced, just as Usopp came to join them.

“No worries! The mighty captain Usopp will help his trivial crew members gain enlightenment.”

Ignoring his long-nosed crewmate this time, the greenhaired pirate explained. “I don’t need it. But I want to learn.”

“Do you have to brag?” Sanji actually sighed at him.

“It’s not bragging if everyone here except you understand what she’s saying.” Zoro huffed. “I’m surprised you actually figured out that she wanted you in the crew.” Turning back his attention towards Nami, Zoro continued. “So what do you say, witch?”

“And just for that, I will increase your dept to 1M bellis. But yeah, you’ve got a deal. That’ll be 1.5M bellis.”

“How the hell do you expect me to pay this amount?”

“Prostitute yourself for all I care. I’m expecting to be paid in full, and with interest.”

“You’re a menace.”

“Yeah, Sanji? How did that happen? How did she get you to join?” Usopp enquired.

“Did she use the papers on you?” Nami asked.

“Papers?” Both Usopp and Sanji looked confused as Zoro barked a laugh.

“No those were long lost around the one hundredth time she fell in water. They were tenacious until the end, I have to admit.”

“Do we want to know?”

“Her story to tell.”

“Answer the damn question, ero-cook.”

“I didn’t understand what she wanted at first. She was just fighting for the restaurant and protecting it from Don Krieg. Next thing I know, Zeff and the others were kicking me out, telling me to go with her. Luffy-chan was just standing there…”

“Like she knew that was gonna happen?” Nami continued, to which Sanji nodded.

Usopp huffed. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you tagged along without being invited?” Zoro bluntly asked.

“The hell do you mean?!” Sanji’s hackles rose.

Unfortunately, whatever retort Zoro had prepared was lost in his subsequent shriek as Luffy extended her arms, wound around his midsection and flew right into him and towards their group, knocking all of them down on the ground.

“Can’t you come join us the normal way?” Zoro bit out as he tried to breathe through the pain of his fucked up torso.

Luffy tilted her head at him, dumbly, before beginning to laugh. They all watched her with small smiles on their faces, Sanji ruffling her hair, Nami punching her lightly, Usopp nervously muttering how he should have listened to what his instincts were telling him about this town they just escaped, and finally Zoro who still had her arms wrapped around him.

“You scared us back there, Luffy-chan.” Sanji said, finally breaking the group’s silence.

“Don’t do that again, dummy.” Nami hissed at her, her eyes holding back the tears which had threatened to spill while she watched her friend so close to her death.

The captain froze for a second before nodding resolutely against Zoro’s shoulder, her trademark smile shining even more brightly.

It was in the middle of that huge storm that they celebrated. The Grand Line was inbound… They were ready for their next adventures. A good time if any to reaffirm their goals. So, their vows and dreams were exclaimed, loud and clear, letting the wind and the seas carry them eternally.

“To find the all blue.”

“To become the greatest swordsman.”

“To draw a map of the whole world.”

“To become a brave warrior of the sea.”

The four of them looked at Luffy, proudly, taking a deep breath, speaking the lost vow… The loudest of them all… “To becoming the Pirate King.”

That declaration echoed across the seas, but this time, not alone… This time it was carried by the four other echoes of her crew’s dreams.


	6. Holding on

Meeting Laboon and Crocus was both funny and heart wrenching, but it ended with a promise and a new found goal that carries for even longer than finding the One Piece.

The Strawhats also welcomed two guests who lead them to an island called Whiskey Peak. That island ended up being the location of an ambush planned on them, which Zoro ended up taking care of… Not for lack of righteous fury on Luffy’s side, when she discovered he went batshit crazy on people who fed them.

If it weren’t for Nami knocking some sense into them, this fight certainly would not have ended. Luffy did concede that Zoro was right in the end as she’ll realize that this will carry on for the rest of their partnership on these seas… Sanji, however, didn’t miss a chance to get into a shouting match with Zoro when he discovered that the cut on Luffy’s arm was his doing.

Somehow, they also ended up involved in some political mess where they harbored a princess out on a mission to save her country. The adventure, thereafter, was one where Luffy and the crew met up with Miss All Sunday, giants, other baroque works agents and a super weird guy who practically ate their ship.

But most importantly, Nami fell sick and the need for a doctor became a priority. Which is how they ended up meeting Chopper in Drum Island and recruiting him to be their crew’s doctor. To say that Luffy took an instant liking to him would be an understatement. It might have something to do with the fact that he helped Nami and Sanji after that god awful climb, or simply how he caught her when she was just falling down; but mainly? It's the cuteness.

Luffy just couldn’t stop seeking out hugs from the reindeer when he’s in his base form. What actually cemented this status quo, was that time when Luffy fell asleep on top of an already napping Zoro, and then Chopper came to join them and fell asleep on his captain. When they all woke up, Luffy was practically hugging the life out of Chopper while Zoro had his white top all covered with drool.

In came Alabasta, and the warlord known as Crocodile, with his shady organization and his elaborate plan to overrule Vivi’s kingdom. The promise to get her friend to smile again and to be free of the worry of what might become of her country were some of the weights Luffy and the crew were carrying with them.

It was lightened a bit when the Strawhats ended up meeting Ace, Luffy’s big brother. To say that it warmed their hearts seeing Luffy as happy and as clingy to him as she was would be an understatement. This brotherly love was clearly shared by the older of the two as he fondly looked at her and protectively took out whatever threatened to come in her way.

Giving out free hugs, and having a complete disregard to one’s personal space were common for Luffy, but the subsequent blush when Ace kissed her forehead, and the longing and admiring eyes that followed him as she said her goodbye to her brother were not something her crew was used to seeing.

One thing's for sure, though: Ace’s request was not one they were willing to take lightly. “She probably gives you guys a lot of trouble… Take care of her for me.” 

And so began their fight against the warlord, to save their nakama’s country. When Vivi met the Strawhats, she only wanted to take advantage of their clear naivety to get what she wants, after all this is all she’s been doing ever since she went out on this secret mission.

However, she had no idea she will end up invested in their wellbeing and dreaming of going out with them to sea. More so, she had no idea that the crew would take to her so quickly and accept to fight the battle that she can’t possibly win alone.

So here she was screaming her lungs out, trying to make her countrymen and women hear her over the fighting, and damaging vocal cords in the hopes of ending the bloodshed. What finally made her break out in tears was the sight of Crocodile flying up in the sky bloodied and defeated while the first droplets of rain fell on her face.

She cried because her calls were finally heard. She cried because the bet she placed on the Strawhats yielded the desired effects. She cried because the suffering has finally ended.

And she cried because her nakama got out of it alive.

There was just no way for Vivi to stop the tears from falling.

After the crew got treated in the infirmary and while they were completely out of it, Vivi went to sit on Luffy’s bed watching her sleep peacefully with bandages wrapped all over her body. Vivi’s hand splayed out over Luffy’s abdomen contemplating the worst of her injuries there; She had come close to death so many times… Crocodile was so close to killing her, and leaving Vivi without her captain.

“It all worked out in the end.” She heard a feminine voice whisper next to her.

Turning her head to face the red headed thief, she smiled sorrowfully. “It did… It’s just, when I saw the injury, I couldn’t help but think that this was such a close call.”

“It was… I don’t know how she got back up after that honestly. A fucking through and through.” Nami grimaced. “It hurts just remembering it. And to think that she was held up in the air like that…” The memory succeeded in making both Vivi and her shudder.

“What would you have done?” Vivi asked seriously.

Nami considered her. “If Luffy died?” She got a nod from the princess. “Never thought about it. Luffy won’t die. She’s tough.”

The blue haired royalty laughed. “That she is. All of you guys are…”

Nami got up, walked up to Vivi and pulled her into a seated hug on Luffy’s bed. “You’re the strongest of us all! You did well by holding on till now… You did well, Vivi!”

The princess in question sucked in a shaky and wet breath before tightening the hug and dissolving into tears. “I c-can’t thank you enough… You didn’t have to go through all that.”

A slight rustling had Nami stiffen for a second before relaxing back and moving her free hand to pat Vivi’s head. Vivi caught the movement in the corner of her vision, Luffy’s hand tapping at Nami’s. Bracing herself for Nami's relaying of Luffy’s statement, Vivi pulled herself back together. “You’re nakama.”

Taken aback, Vivi snorted. “As simple as that?”

Luffy nodded, knowing full well the two women were acutely aware of her movement. When the guys woke up the next morning, it was to find the three girls curled up together on the same bed, Luffy’s bed, sleeping soundly.


	7. Cute and badass

Arms raised up and sorrowfully, the crew bid their goodbyes leaving Vivi behind. Only to gain a new member, Nico Robin, who did try to kill them and mess with them several times, but who ended up saving Luffy’s life several times, too.

Claiming that Luffy owed her for saving her life when she was ready to put an end to it, Robin joined the crew.

Their adventures continued, carrying them out to Jaya where they met up with the abomination that is Bellamy. Luffy got to see Zoro being completely livid on her behalf as well as witness Nami’s way of handling the fight. It was similar to the way Luffy herself handled Shanks’ fight with the bandit. To be fair, Nami’s punch and scolding after they got out of that bar hurt more than whatever Bellamy and his crew did. Nami had a mean punch.

The three of them, then, got to meet a weird pirate with a smile that made even the future Pirate King feel uneasy. It was however quickly forgotten as they made their way to Skypeia. Soaring up into the sky with Merry as their vessel, the Strawhats faced God himself and Luffy knocked him down a peg, completely livid that he hurt her friends.

Little did she know, her lividness and protectiveness would not be nearly enough to protect Robin.

Somewhere on the other side of the world, the News Coo passed by and woke the man sleeping and leaning on the big polar bear with the orange jump suit.

When Shachi and Penguin say woke him up, they meant that the gull dropped the newspaper dead on their captain’s face. What happened next led Bepo, the white polar bear, to ask, “Did you have to do that to the poor bird?”

“Did it have to drop the newspaper on my face?!”

And the poor creature ended up falling down in the water in fractured pieces courtesy of non-other than their captain, Trafalgar Law. “I’m sorry…” Bepo muttered dejectedly as he shot a worried glance towards the dying bird.

The surgeon sighed annoyedly before the bird’s pieces suddenly fell in Bepo’s hand. The navigator dutifully started attaching its limbs back together to let it fly. Meanwhile, Ikkaku took a hold of the newspaper and opened it to check the latest headlines.

“Oh yeah! I was wondering where I saw her face. That’s the girl we’ve seen being mentioned in last week’s newspaper. Something about her having the highest bounty in the East Blue.” Penguin exclaimed as he chanced a look at the front page.

“Monkey D. Luffy’s her name.” Shachi informed him.

“What about her?” Law asked as he relaxed back against Bepo who hasn’t moved an inch after setting the bird free again.

Ikkaku gave the article a cursory look before stating. “So apparently, she broke into this marine base called Enies Lobby and took the Demon Child, Nico Robin, from them.” The surgeon actually seemed to be paying attention as the name of the archeologist was mentioned. “Said that she, along with her crew, took down CP9 and escaped.”

Shachi whistled. “She sure doesn’t do things in halves.”

“And she looks cute doing it.” Penguin remarked only to be bonked on the head by Ikkaku.

Huffing, the female Heart Pirate continued. “Her bounty was raised t-to…” She gasped. “300 000 000 bellis!”

“300 Million?!” Bepo seemed surprised. “That’s higher than your bounty, captain!”

“Cute and badass, that’s one deadly combo that’s for sure.” Shachi whistled again, only for him to be bonked by Ikkaku this time.

“Dumbasses, tch…” She rolled her eyes at them before turning the newspaper around and showing Law the page with the Strawhats’ bounties displayed. “She already has another crew member with a bounty higher than 100 million along with the famous Nico Robin. The Strawhat Pirates are dangerous.”

Law considered her input before taking the paper from her hand to look more closely at the numbers. “Weren’t you trying to find Nico Robin when we first set out to sea?” Bepo asked.

“You did?” Ikkaku seemed genuinely interested.

“Oh yes! Law wanted to get her to join his crew.” Penguin relayed the information. “She’s basically the only one who can read Poneglyphs.”

“You mean like the one we found in Fishman Island?”

“Exactly, that one.” Penguin nodded, “But we weren’t able to extract much information from it, because we couldn’t read it. It’s why she’s called Demon Child, and why she has a high bounty. The world government’s after her.”

“Basically, the normal shady government stuff, that’s what you’re telling me?”

“You got it, girl.” Shachi winked at her, and very nearly got punched in the face, were it not for his perfect reflexes that ended up with him dodging the attack backwards and falling down in the sea. When he emerged back from the water, he grumbled. “One of the few times we decide to actually resurface, and I end up falling. How lucky am I?”

Both Ikkaku and Penguin busied themselves laughing their heads off at him, while Law continued reading the shenanigans the Strawhats had gotten into. The article did a good job summarizing their cosmic rise in popularity. Carefully depicting Luffy as this reckless and dangerous pirate who was out there, wreaking havoc, whether it be by taking down the two pirates with the highest bounties in East Blue, getting very nearly executed in Loguetown before challenging the world government by fucking burning down their flag.

Smirking ominously, Law discarded the paper and carefully switched it with the rope his crew was using to whole Shachi back up. As the paper took the rope’s place and the wet rope fell down in front of the surgeon, they could all hear the subsequent splash and the cursing that followed thereafter.

“Bepo steer us towards Sabaody Archipelago…” He said all the while remaining well rested against his navigator.

“But we went there two weeks ago, why would we need to go back?” Bepo was genuinely confused at his captain’s order.

“True, but something tells me we’ll be just in time to witness the storm.”

“Which storm?”

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Law sighed.

Bepo muttered dejectedly. “I’m sorry…”


	8. It was close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support! It means a lot!
> 
> Next week I'll have my exams, so I might not be able to upload new chapters. I did try, however, to provide 'enough' content for this week! 
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the story so far!

After that ridiculous fight against her own shadow, Luffy was definitely surprised and ecstatic that she woke up feeling invigorated instead of tired and sore. Her recovery rate is usually fast, but according to Chopper, it shouldn’t have been _that_ fast.

Her cheery self didn’t last long though as she watched and heard Sanji calling for help, while he dragged a bloodied unconscious Zoro with him. Their reindeer doctor gasped and rushed to their help along with the rest of the crew. Luffy, however, remained standing there watching as her friends tended to her first mate. To say that she was in a state of shellshock would be an understatement.

Her eyes slowly glided away from Zoro’s unconscious form towards the swords she couldn’t help but notice. The three swords that were always attached to her swordsman’s hip were thrown on the ground, discarded, unimportant. They seemed, no. They felt irritated, angry… Their anger directed at Zoro. Though, laced with the anger was the worry and understanding.

How could they understand? Luffy was completely at a loss…

Did they know something she didn’t?

Why was he bloodied, and dying…?

W-What happened?

She took a step forward, towards her crew, towards her first mate, but ended up stumbling. Not trusting herself to actually be able to reach them what with the way her legs seemed to tremble, Luffy settled for making her way towards his swords. She could do that, at least…

She wanted to call out…

Tell Zoro to stop messing with her.

To get back up.

To take his swords.

To stand next to her.

Instead, all she could do was cradle his swords in her arms and watch Chopper do his job of wrapping the swordsman in bandages after tending to his injuries to the best of his abilities.

Later, after everyone settled and the party, they threw, ended, Luffy made her way to Zoro’s bedside and brought with her the swords she had safely held onto during the entirety of the day. She finally laid them down next to him, before settling at his side, watching him breathe in and out rhythmically with occasional furrows in his eyebrows. Then, she took a hold of one of his hands, and started tracing the letters of his name on the inside of his palm. Somehow, the repeating motions, his breathing and her writing, settled something in her, and she couldn’t help but notice the same thing being applied to his swords. After being restless the whole day while with her, they finally seemed to calm down now that they were back with their rightful owner.

Luffy didn’t know how much time passed while she lost herself in the repetitive motions; what broke her out of it, was when a hand weakly clamped down on her finger after it finished tracing the final ‘O’ in Zoro’s name. Looking over towards the swordsman, she found him with eyes slightly open and looking at her.

His look held a mix of relief, loyalty and unbound commitment. It scared her… And somehow, it only made the swords next to him vibe that much strongly with him. They seemed to be echoing back whatever was going through Zoro’s head and reflected in his eyes, amplifying the effect and subsequently making Luffy’s throat close up.

It was close… That was the closest time she came to losing a crew member. What made it worse was the fact that it all happened while she was unconscious, indisposed. She wasn’t able to protect Zoro… Maybe even, wouldn’t have been able to protect the whole crew if it weren’t for whatever Zoro did. Because he did something, she knew that. He dealt with one of the warlords, Kuma. While she was indisposed, according to Usopp, the whole crew was actively protecting her until Kuma did something to knock them all down. After that, Zoro apparently went and discarded his swords, only to return even closer to death than that time when he fought Mihawk.

 _It was close_ …

She felt her eyes watering up and her breathing turning shallow, but before she could start crying, Zoro pulled her down, cradling her head with his hand and patting it soothingly. With their foreheads touching, Zoro whispered. “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t really, but, nonetheless, Luffy found herself swallowing down the anguish that filled her heart.

“It’s okay.” He repeated again, his voice steadier but still gruffier than usual. “Don’t worry.”

She nodded as she sucked in a shaky breath. She locked gazes with him and nodded again even more convincingly this time. Zoro huffed at her, before letting her go and settling back in his bed. “Where are my swords?”

Luffy pointed towards his right where Wado, Shusui and Kitetsu were resting, while she straightened back in her chair. It wasn’t long before everyone joined them and Chopper burst out in tears as he checked up on his patient, scolding him from being reckless and nearly dying. Pretty soon, as she witnessed Sanji and Zoro get into a harmless fight and none other than Chopper bonking them both on the head, Luffy finally ended up laughing at her crew’s antics.


	9. Here comes the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't stop myself from writing this new chapter lol! 
> 
> Expect an update this weekend you guys!
> 
> Thank you for your support! I really appreciate it a lot ♥

After that, and while Zoro was still recovering, they made their way towards Sabaody Archipelago to prepare for Fishman Island. Somewhere along the way, they ended up on a mission of saving Camie. Basically, this is how things go. They find out she’s about to be sold in an auction house; they rush to her help. Unfortunately, the one behind her kidnapping ended up being one of the Celestial Dragons, who upon seeing Hachi decides to shoot him.

Luffy saw red. Not a minute later, she was walking up the stairs towards the idiot who hurt her friend, practically vibrating with pent-up energy.

Vaguely, she heard someone exclaiming. “Here comes the storm.”

And that pent-up energy finally got released when she punched the living soul out of the weird looking man.

Once the ringing in her ears faded and the fight left her, Luffy was finally able to catalogue her surroundings, just in time too, to hear two people huff amusedly. It registered in her mind that she was being watched, so she turned only to be see on one side, a redhaired guy and what seemed like his crew while on the other side, sitting with his arms spread out and legs crossed, looking smug as hell, another guy with a weird spotted hat along with two of his crew and a… Polar Bear!!!

This immediately made her jump towards them and lean excitedly into the row they were sitting in, watching the polar bear with stars in her eyes. The Heart Pirates were a bit creeped out, until Sanji intervened and explained. “She’s trying to ask the polar bear if he’ll join her crew?”

“Since when do you understand what she’s saying, ero-cook?”

Sanji hissed at Zoro. “You just recovered; you really want me to put you back on bed arrest?”

“You wish.”

The guy with gold metal earrings, sitting right next to the bear, scoffed and dismissed them pointedly while Bepo looked away embarrassedly from where he was looking at Luffy. “I’m sorry…”

Luffy pouted only for Robin to pitch in. “Luffy those are the Heart Pirates… The one sitting in the center is Trafalgar Law, their captain. While the one standing up there is the captain Eustass Kid and next to him, his first mate Killer. They're the Kid Pirates. The four of you, and Zoro, are among what the World Government calls Supernovas as you have bounties higher than 100 million. Eustass Kid up there has a bounty even higher than yours.”

While Robin explained, Luffy was busy actually studying the people in front of her as well as the commotion that’s been stirred up after she punched that guy. Whoever, they might be, it didn’t matter right now. She came here for a reason. She still had to save Camie… Turning around, she got ready to jump the stage only to be halted by an old man, the Dark King, who intervened and made everyone subsequently pass out.

“Stand back and watch.” Kid cockily exclaimed. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you deal with the fodder.”

Luffy actually frowned at that before signing to his back, something along the lines of “Go to hell.”

She was surprised to see, the Hearts’ Captain huff and smirk at that. Such a reaction naturally prompted her next question. “You know sign language?”

He didn’t deign her with an answer, and instead entered the fight against the marines. Luffy stood there intrigued, and it very nearly cost her head as one of the marines was about ready to chop it off if it weren’t for Sanji jumping in at the last second, putting a protective arm around her throat and kicking the guy away, decisively.

“Pay attention, Luffy-chan, will you?”

She smiled at him and went to help her crew fend off the onslaught of marines, quickly forgetting about the two captains she just met.

The crew and she weren’t ready though. It became blatantly obvious when PX1 and Sentomaru joined the fight… The collective effort of Zoro, Sanji and her was barely enough to take out PX1, and they were getting their asses handed to them following Kizaru’s entrance. Then, Bartholomew Kuma appeared and what transpired could only be described as a nightmare.

Luffy watched as Zoro was the first to go… The repercussions of this simple action could be seen on the faces of all of her crew members.

“If you could take a vacation, where would you like to go?” was the only thing Luffy heard before their second strongest was down… No… Zoro just disappeared. As easily as that… With absolutely zero effort, Zoro was no longer with them.

The shock of it only enabled Kuma to pick out the Strawhats one by one: Brook, Usopp, Sanji, Franky, Nami, Chopper and Robin who was just next to her. They all disappeared on her and no matter what she did she couldn’t stop Kuma.

It was exactly as she feared. She couldn’t save them.

And as she broke down in tears, her mind completely foggy and thoughts going haywire,

_Kuma made her disappear too._

“That was close!” Shachi sighed tiredly.

“Yeah! I mean Kizaru was there… He practically incapacitated most of the other crew’s captains!” Penguin exclaimed.

“It seems that the Kid Pirates and us were the only ones to successfully escape.” Ikkaku relayed to them.

Bepo tilted his head. “What about the Strawhats?”

“It’s because of their captain that we had to cut our stay short.” Shachi grumbled. “But she’s a whirlwind that’s for sure.”

“Can you believe it, Ikkaku?! She wanted to make Bepo join her crew.” Penguin giggled. “Strawhat Luffy’s definitely bold. Like she asked him right in front of the captain.”

Shachi burst out laughing. “I know right?! She’s lucky he didn’t cut her in pieces.”

“Something tells me that wouldn’t have wind up well.” Penguin noted sheepishly.

“Her crew seems scary though.” Bepo exclaimed.

“So captain? Do you know what happened to them?” Shachi just had to include him.

“I was with you guys the whole time.”

“I know!” Shachi grumbled. “You just seemed interested in whatever Luffy was doing.” The subsequent icy stare he got from Law made him realize his fate… “I’m going to be cut in pieces, aren’t I?”

“Don’t worry we’ll put you back together.” Penguin exclaimed enthusiastically.

A few minutes later, “Good luck finding his pieces!”

Penguin and Shachi’s head dismissed themselves with a few choice expletives thrown in Law’s direction.

Ikkaku laughed out. “You’re really something else, captain.”

“I’ll be in my quarters… Head to paradise. We’ll bid our time before making our move.”

Jean Bart asked once Law was out of hearing range. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll get used to it in no time.” Ikkaku assured him.

“Yeah, that’s just captain for you!” Bepo nodded sympathetically.

“Apparently, the Strawhats got taken out by Kizaru and their PX1.” During one of their meetings, Ikkaku relayed the information to the rest of the crew. “It doesn’t seem like the Navy believes that they’re down for the count, though…”

“That answers your question, Bepo!” Shachi grinned at the polar bear. “Still considering joining their side?”

Bepo actually looked appalled. “I would never leave captain’s side.”

Law glanced at his navigator before looking back at Ikkaku. “What else?”

She seemed hesitant to continue… “The newspaper says that… Firefist Ace is set to be executed in a few days.”

“What?! The second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates? That Ace?!” Penguin cried out.

“This is gonna be a shit show! What are they thinking?!” Shachi looked confused.

“They must know that that’s the equivalent of declaring war on Whitebeard.” Law pointed out. “So there has to be something that makes the whole thing worth the risk.”

“What do you think it is?” Ikkaku inquired only to have her captain shake his head.

“Nothing comes to mind. I’m just sure that nothing good will come out of the inevitable clash between the Marines and Whitebeard.”

“What about us? What will we be doing?” Bepo asked, genuinely interested.

“Watching? Most of the world would be watching the public execution of Firefist.”

“You’re not planning on joining then?” Jean Bart filled in.

Law shook his head. “We’re not ready for the level of power that’ll be in play there. And I won’t risk your lives… Let’s just lay low for the time being and stock up on supplies.”


	10. A terrible family

“Captain! They are broadcasting Fire fist’s execution!” Penguin announced from behind Law’s closed doors.

It succeeded in making him flinch as well as pull him out of the myriad of thoughts he was drowning in while trying to figure out one of the Joker’s many factories. This will have to wait… Because what the marines were currently doing can very easily destroy every plan he could make no matter how carefully thought out they might be.

“Are you coming, Law?” Shachi asked again, this time with a calmer voice. Getting up from his chair, Law went and opened the door while stepping out of the way as Shachi fell onto the floor. “What did I do to deserve this, this time?”

“Why were you leaning on the door while calling for me to get out?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to actually deign us with your presence.”

“Then your prejudice is not my fault. I always end up defying expectations.”

Shachi actually raised an eyebrow at him. “So, what you’re telling me is you weren’t in there overthinking whatever plan you’ve been working on ever since you, Penguin, Bepo and I set out to sea?” Law glared at him which made him back down pretty quickly. “Okay! Okay, jeez! You’re one scary motherfucker captain, you know that?!”

The surgeon chose to ignore him, “where are you gathered?”

“Kitchen.” Shachi answered. “Clione was in the communications hub doing some maintenance on the Den Den Mushis when he suddenly picked up on a signal from the Proko. He immediately came to us and showed us what was happening. It’s crazy.”

“Alright. Loop me in.”

“Basically, Portgas D. Ace is still set to be executed. He’s set up on a platform and most of the broadcasting is focused on him. Honestly it just seems like the marines put in a lot of effort to be able to film and get good angles.”

“It’s planned then.” Law stated. “It has always been their intention to make it public, that’s also why they chose to publicly declare the date and place of Fire fist’s execution.”

“It just seems like a bit too much. I know he’s a big shot and like the second division commander of a Yonko, but is it really worth the effort of going into war with him?” Shachi asked. “I mean there’s a lot of manpower there. The admirals and the warlords are mobilized. They are expecting a full-fledged war. What do they hope to achieve?”

Just as he asked the question, the two of them entered the kitchen at exactly the moment where Sengoku announces. “He’s the son of Gol D. Roger!”

“You got your answer.”

“WHAT?!” Most of the people in the room exclaimed as they looked at the man set to be executed with a mix of wonder and horror.

“I didn’t know Roger had a son.” Penguin mumbled.

“It’s not really something one could go around boasting. Especially given how they practically massacred an entire village’s women and children in search for him.” Ikkaku spat out.

“The way you're talking about it seems personal.”

“Well imagine your parents were forced to escape in an attempt to keep you alive because the government wanted to kill all the kids. Tell me it wouldn’t be personal for you.”

“That’s all because they were looking for Roger’s kid?”

“Simply because of that. The poor guy, I don’t even want to know how it’s been like for him.” Ikkaku shook her head.

“Oh something’s happening!” Bepo called for their attention once again as the Whitebeard pirates and a fleet of their allies entered the battlefield.

Then started the Paramount War.

“What the actual fuck?!” Shachi exclaimed dumbfounded as he stared at the projection with absolute incredulousness.

Bepo stuttered. “W-What is _she_ doing there?!”

Law tuned the voices of his crew out as he watched Luffy land in the middle of Marineford along with, “Are those escapees from Impel Down?!” he couldn’t help but speak out loud.

Ikkaku looked his way, “Oh! Yeah, you’re right. Crocodile was supposed to be detained there along with the Revolutionary Ivankov.”

Law scoffed, clearly amused. “It just keeps getting messier and messier.”

“She seems like an interesting person!” Ikkaku laughed out loud.

“Or she just always seeks the spotlight.” Shachi suggested.

“You seem to forget that she punched the Tenryuubito because her friend was being sold?” Penguin reminded him.

“Idiot.” Ikkaku whispered discreetly to Bepo.

“Hey what was that?!” Shachi asked, feeling insulted. Cue the four of them starting their endless bickering and a full-fledged shouting match, while Law sat with his legs crossed, watching as Luffy stood tall in front of Whitebeard and challenged him with simply her eyes. The old man’s presence alone could make even admirals cower, and here Luffy was looking as if she was on equal standing.

“Monkey D. Luffy has guts.” Jean Bart stated next to him. “It’s weird though, for her to be there, alone, too.”

Law frowned at that, and it seemed to be an important enough observation for it to pull Bepo out of the useless conversation Penguin, Shachi and Ikkaku were still involved in. “Now that you mention it. I don’t see the rest of the Strawhats among the people who fell from the sky. Where do you think they are?”

“It might have something to do with the clash with Kizaru back in Sabaody?” Clione suggested.

“You mean… They got separated?!” Bepo looked visibly horrified. “That must be awful!”

Law observed his navigator for a moment before adding. “Yet, instead of going to search for them… She’s in Marineford.” He clasped his hands and leaned forward. “We’re missing something crucial here.”

It didn’t take long before they heard Ace cry out. “What are you doing here, Luffy, go away!”

“They know each other.” Jean Bart stated.

That prompted an even angrier reaction from Luffy. Law responded, “It looks like i-” while she was gesturing widely at Ace before huffing and jumping away from Whitebeard’s side like a woman on a mission. “He’s her brother.”

“HA!!!!!” Ikkaku joined in on their conversation out of nowhere, seeming completely bewildered at the piece of information her captain just shared. “You serious?! How did you know?”

“She said it.” Law simply replied not caring that they all seemed to look at him funnily.

“You’re messing with us, right?” Shachi asked after a moment, after he realized that no one was going to ask about the elephant in the room.

“Why would I be messing with you?” Law answered, before backtracking. “Aside from the obvious answers.”

“She didn’t say a thing. The camera was focused on her. Her lips didn’t move and you… There’s just no way.”

“You’re just too dumb to notice.”

Bepo considered him for a moment, “You mean… With her hands?” The polar bear seemed to be nervously playing with his hands. “That makes sense… We didn’t hear her talk to anyone when we met her on Sabaody.”

Law nodded. “She was using sign language to communicate… Firefist Ace seems to have understood what she told him, so it is fair to say that they are brother and sister, given that he didn’t deny it.”

“What a terrible family… I mean, Garp, Ace and her.” Penguin couldn’t help but stutter out.

“Wait, but isn’t he the son of Gol D. Roger… Wouldn’t that me-”

“She is none other than the daughter of the world’s worst criminal Monkey D. Dragon.” Sengoku announces on the speakers.

“That answers the question.”

“Sworn brothers, huh…” Penguin considered this new information. “How far is she willing to go to save him? Like… It’s clear that everyone there’s on a different level than her. I mean not even her crew is there. It’s insane… No matter, how you look at it. It’s absolutely insane.”

Ikkaku nodded, “Gotta respect her guts though. I wouldn’t have done such a thing… Would you?” All the heads in the room shook, but she couldn’t help but notice her captain sitting there impassive. “Captain? Don’t tell me, you actually would?!”

He looked at her. “If they were still alive?” She nodded wanting to get his answer, “Yes. I definitely would have.”

Shachi and Penguin actually cooed at him. “You are so cute, captain!!!”

Needless to say, it ended with them in pieces and crying at his evilness. “You gotta restore the status quo, huh?” Ikkaku asked amused.

“You want to join them?”

“Oh hell no… Besides the Tang was only made for two idiots, she definitely can’t fit more.” She chanced a glance in Jean Bart’s direction. “To be fair… I feel really bad that it wasn’t designed for your height.”

“It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds…” Jean Bart reassured her.

“What are you talking about, dude?! Just tell us that it sucks.” Uni complained.

Bart looked away. “It kind of does… But it’s manageable.”

“You got that bubbly coral no? From Fishman Island.” Law asked Uni, who nodded. “This way you’ll be able to actually get out while we’re underwater.”

“That technology of theirs is so useful.” Uni nodded enthusiastically, before setting off to get the mentioned item.

“They’re executing him!!!” Penguin cried out, once again focusing on the war in front of them.


	11. A whim

The remaining Heart Pirates held their breaths as the swords slowly descended on Ace’s head. Law sighed as the inevitable was about to happen, only for something insanely improbable to happen.

Suddenly, the two marines who were carrying out the execution collapsed… Firefist Ace was still alive and looking horrified at something that is outside of the camera’s frame. Even Sengoku seemed to be taken aback… Whatever had happened must have been something no one expected. And that means…

“L-Luffy…” Ace stuttered out, unable to form complete words in the face of whatever this crazy girl had done.

The camera pans out and now what transpired was finally revealed to the public. All around Luffy were Marines soldiers who were down for the count; there was even some that were still falling. It seemed like someone had paused the battle and everyone was looking at Luffy as if she singlehandedly changed the war. She may as well, because next thing they know, Whitebeard ordered his crew to back her up.

Then the feed got cut, again.

It was only picked up again to see Luffy up there on the platform next to her brother, while Sengoku was transforming into a golden Buddha. “Okay, what the actual fuck?!” Shachi muttered, taken aback. “She’s actually going to fucking do it. She’s actually going to save Firefist…”

Penguin laughs. “Sengoku is so pissed off! This is gonna be a huge mess.”

Law hummed as he gripped Kikoku tighter. “I doubt it’ll end well…”

Not even a minute after he said that, the platform collapsed under the power of Sengoku’s punch and Luffy’s inability to take it even in… balloon form? It collapsed, and all the marines fired at Luffy, Ace and some mysterious third party whom they didn’t know. Through the bullets and the bombs that had exploded, only a fire tunnel appeared followed by a burst that drew Whitebeard’s mark in the air.

Ikkaku burst out laughing, “I gotta say, I didn’t expect her to be able to free him.”

“She do be like that.” Shachi nodded to himself.

“Now you look pretty dumb having rejected her offer to join her.” Penguin said pointedly at Bepo.

The mink actually looked insulted. “I would never leave captain’s side! He’s much cooler than her.”

Law actually shook his head in exasperation while hiding his face from view, trying to disguise the fact that Bepo’s statement made him smile a bit. “Awh! Captain’s smiling! You made him happy, Bepo!” Ikkaku exclaimed, only for her to earn a glare from Law. “Eek! I’m sorry!!”

“I have to say, though…” Shachi started as he watched the video feed. “They do look like brother and sister.” He seemed surprised at the way a smile etched its way onto his face. “I’m kind of happy for her.”

“You’re a softie… A pervert. But a softie.” Penguin patted his head, only for his hand to get swatted away.

“Look who’s talking.”

Law ignored them for the time being, choosing to continue to focus on the war they’re witnessing. For some reason he failed to pinpoint, he ended up saying to Bepo who was busy arguing with Shachi and Penguin. “Hey, Bepo. Change of plans… Go to Marineford.”

“EH?!!!!” All the Heart Pirates’ jaws dropped at the statement.

“What?!”

“What happened to ‘We’re not ready’?!”

“We’re not engaging.” Law explained.

“We weren’t even going to go near the island.”

“As I’ve said… Change of plans.”

“What are the new ones?”

Law considered them for a moment before glancing back at the video feed. “Whim…”

Ikkaku looked at him, unimpressed. “Whim, he says?!” She threw her arms in the air. “Trafalgar Law, captain of the Heart Pirates, and nicknamed Surgeon of Death, says that it’s a whim of his. Hey you three,” she pointed at Shachi, Penguin and Bepo. “You know him the longest. How many times did captain act on a whim?”

“Never.”

“What’s your point?” Law seemed annoyed, but it didn’t stop Ikkaku from continuing.

Ikkaku gestured for him to wait, “Okay, and what’s his track record when it comes to the number of whims he had, ever since you met him?”

Shachi answered, amused. “None!”

The woman looked at Law pointedly. “So try better.”

“Tch…” Law huffed at her, deciding to ignore the useless debate. “Bepo!”

The mink jumped at the surgeon’s call, and nodded. “I’m going, I’m going!”

As their navigator left the room, the rest of the Heart Pirates continued staring at their captain in a mix of amusement and worry at what his new plans would entail for them.

Somewhere on the battlefield, Garp gasped as if physically struck. The reason? None other than his grandchildren. In retrospect, it was expected, knowing what he knew.

_“This is why I wanted you to become a marine.”_

_“It was never gonna happen, Jiji.”_

_Garp sighed. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”_

_Ace scoffed and looked up at his grandfather. “I would say it’s inevitable.”_

_The old man gritted his teeth and sat down on the floor, looking at the child he had taken under his wing. “Why did you go after Blackbeard?”_

_“Tch…”_

_“You had to know you were outmatched. Whitebeard surely didn’t want you to go after him.”_

_Ace glared at him. “He killed a crewmate.” He looked away._

_A sad smile played on Garp’s lips. “That’s not all, is it?”_

_Ace’s shackles made noise as he shifted. “He threatened Luffy.”_

_“That bastard.” Garp’s jaw set._

_“I couldn’t have turned back even if I wanted… Not when she was on the line.”_

_“How did that work out for you?”_

_Ace actually bristled. “Fuck you.”_

_Garp sighed. “What do you think she’ll do when she finds out?”_

_That successfully made Firefist deflate. “I’m hoping that she won’t find out until it’s too late.”_

_“Last time I heard of her, Bartholomew Kuma had made her disappear.”_

_Ace frowned. “What? Disappear?”_

_“There is currently no sign of neither her nor her crewmates. They disappeared after clashing with Kuma, Sentomaru and Kizaru…”_

_“With an admiral? Why?”_

_“That idiot punched a Tenryuubito.”_

_Ace barked out a weak laugh. “That’s my sister, alright! I’m sure she’s okay…”_

_“I’m not worried about her either.” Garp nodded. “There’s another reason that has me worried, though.” He looked at Ace, pointedly. “What happened to her voice?”_

_His grandchild winced, as if physically struck; even his breath hitched and his eyes turned wild. “It’s… It happened after Sabo died.” The way Garp’s jaw dropped made Ace look away in obvious turmoil, his eyes getting all teary despite himself. “Luffy lost her voice after she lost one brother.”_

_“Fuck…”_

“ _Fate really has a cruel way of delivering its blows._ ” Garp thought as he watched the transpiring events in front of him, while Sengoku tried to restrain him.

“A-Ace…” Luffy’s unused voice cracked as she trembled under the weight of her brother’s body.

This prompted a small tired scoff from Ace. “Have I ever told you… That I love your voice?” He breathed in, and continued. “I missed hearing it…” Ace muttered in between wheezes. “Please don’t lose it again, Lu…”

Luffy’s tears gathered in her eyes as the tremors increased. “D-Don’t go.”

She felt him smile against her shoulder. “Can you please relay what I’ll be telling you to the others?” His breaths were labored. “I don’t think I can speak loud enough for them to hear.”

With every word uttered, Luffy’s throat close up further, until Ace mumbled his next words. “Thank you for loving me.”

Her tears fell silently, following how Ace’s body thudded next to her.

Whatever happened next was a complete blur.

At that point, Luffy just _broke_.


	12. Chaos is one word for it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the comments! I really appreciate it a lot. It's thanks to you that my inspiration is not running out, and I'm really grateful for it!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! Still with Law's POV...

“Bring us to the surface, hurry Bepo!”

“Oh fuck! This is what he had planned?!”

“We are definitely not ready for this, captain!”

“I don’t care. She’s _my_ patient. Suck it up and prepare the rooms.”

“PLURAL?!”

“What are you planning, Law?”

“A ton load of surgeries, I need you all ready to help.” Law rushed to the deck of his ship. “This is gonna be difficult.”

“Thirty seconds before we breach the surface.”

“They’re saying Shanks made an entrance.”

“Tch… This is getting unnecessarily complicated.” The surgeon didn’t wait. As soon as the light on top of the door turned green, Law was out of the door, looking at Buggy who had both Luffy and Jimbei in his arms. “Put Mugiwara-ya on my ship!”

“That’s a really strange way to call somebody. Who are you, brat?!”

This actually annoyed Law, but had no time to actually complain. “I’m gonna help her out of here. Let me take care of her for now. I’m a doctor.”

“Are you kidding me?! Doctors don’t carry swords!”

The surgeon gritted his teeth, ready to answer back only to see Bepo next to him throw two stones in the air, looking at him pointedly.

Following his first mate’s lead, Law proceeded to get what he came here for. “Room!” Once the blue sphere covered both Buggy, Jimbei, Luffy and the stones, Law twisted his wrist. “Shambles.”

Both Jean Bart and Bepo were ready to catch Jimbei and Luffy respectively, as Buggy was left there completely lost.

“It’s Trafalgar Law! One of the supernovas! What is he doing here?”

“Fuck. Let’s get out.”

“What the hell have you done?!” Buggy was livid.

“I’ll take care of them.”

A beat before he went back in, Buggy called out to him, catching his attention and throwing a strawhat at him. “She’ll need it.” He nodded in Shanks’ direction.

Law didn’t dwell too much on this as he caught Luffy’s iconic hat. He went in, and they started to dive back in.

“This should be a fun operation.” He whispered to himself a bit ominously, only for the whole ship to start trembling.

“What the hell?!” Ikkaku cried out.

“This is an emergency! The ice is closing in on us! Admiral Aokiji’s trying to freeze us in!” Uni’s voice sounded through the speaker while everyone went into panic mode.

The Polar Tang had a hard time diving deep and escaping being iced in, and Bepo wasn’t doing good either. “This is bad, this is bad! This is really bad! If this goes on, we’ll be trapped, Captain!”

The whole escape plan went as roughly as expected really, but Law paid no mind as he focused on hooking his patients while most of the equipment fell down on the floor. “Do something about it.”

“The Tang can’t take it! We can’t take it!” Clione complained.

“Suck it up.” Jean Bart said harshly before pushing a button, “We’ll dive in quickly.”

“Fuck…” He whispered out, as his hands rushed to get everything ready so he can start with his surgeries, while everyone was having a hard time staying on their feet and securing the other patient.

He felt everything steady once again, and soon after, Bepo was falling down along with the rest of the Heart Pirates. “We’re safe…”

It didn’t take long before they were under attack once again. “You spoke too soon, Bepo!!” Shachi groaned out, while Law gritted his teeth.

“Get it together! Strawhat’s already slipping. I’m gonna start her surgery… Now deal with it.”

“You got it, Captain! You save them, we’ll dive deeper, I’ll get us out.” Jean Bart announced, a man on a mission.

“We’re definitely gonna get hit!” Bepo cried out only.

Ikkaku hit him on the head. “Bart’s right. Suck it up! We have lives to save.” She got back up and rushed to help out with setting up the IVs.

They all got themselves back on their feet despite the harsh situation and went to help their captain while the rest took care of their escape. Finally, somehow, the assault ended, and they all breathed out in relief… Not complete relief though. Not when the two patients they had on their hands had injuries this severe.

Law put on his gloves, discarded his hat and took a deep breath. This was gonna be one hell of a pair of operations.

“I did not expect to have to donate my blood.” Jean Bart said, looking a bit taken aback.

“You’re one of the few people here with blood type F.” Ikkaku explained as she monitored the transfer. “Captain’s currently still in the operation room with Strawhat, and the others are trying to mend the damages that the Polar Tang sustained.”

“The captain is F?”

“Yeah. At first, they didn’t have anyone with the same type as him, so they used to be really worried whenever he got injured. Then they realized that he’s practically ‘immune’ to what us normal humans experience as blood loss.”

“How so?”

“His devil fruit helps, I guess… It heals him pretty quickly, including recovering from blood loss.”

“That’s one handy devil fruit.”

Ikkaku laughed. “I know right!”

“Why do you think he helped Strawhat out…?”

“They’re supposed to be enemies.” Ikkaku nodded to herself as she looked at Jimbei’s form next to them peacefully slumbering. “I don’t know, he seems interested though.”

“In Monkey D. Luffy?”

She chuckled to herself. “In her chaos. I can’t help but notice that he has a knack for these things.”

Jean Bart actually huffed. “Chaos is one word for it.”

“You’re going to give her your blood?!” Shachi stared at Law dumbfoundedly. “That’s unexpected.”

“Not really. Jean Bart’s already giving his to Jimbei… We only have two other members with the same blood type as Mugiwara-ya and they both are busy doing damage control to whatever happened with the Tang. I, on the otherhand, just finished. So set everything up, Shachi.”

“It’s just the first time you ever donated your own blood.”

“And you’ll be stuck here, now. Are you sure?” Penguin pointed out.

“I don’t have much to do, anyway.” He sighed as he got rid of his gloves and wore his hat once again.

Penguin nodded at him, serious for once. “You did a good job, Captain. Really.”

“I know. I usually do.” Law smirked at him, which made him splutter a bit.

“A little bit of modesty wouldn’t hurt.”

He scoffed, “You can go rest. I’ll take it from here.”

“Shouldn’t that be our line?” Shachi asked, after finishing everything.

“Under normal circumstances, sure. But she’s the one with the most critical injuries… I’ll have to monitor her personally. There’s also the blood transfusion.” The surgeon shrugged. “So… Just go.”

The two hesitated before nodding and dismissing themselves. After a short while, Law settled down on the stool next to her, watching as his blood traveled from his arm and into Luffy’s system. He took hold of Kikoku with his free arm, unsheathed it and stuck it next to Luffy’s bed where the Strawhat was already placed, muttering calmly. “It was a good fight…” He honestly couldn’t believe he was actually talking to his unconscious patient like a creep, but somehow it felt like he had to get these things out of his system. “You really did your best, Mugiwara-ya. Rest now.”

He heard the heart monitor pick up slightly, still within the normal range, so nothing to be worried about, but what did catch his attention was the shaky breath, followed by the tear that slowly traced its way down Luffy’s cheek and the side of her face.

If someone were to ask him why he did what he did, he wouldn’t know what to tell them. There was just something about her that piqued his interest. Maybe the fact that he recognized the desperation Luffy must have felt during the war. He recognized it and identified as his own; that same desperation he felt when trying to save his family and not being able to…

It might also be that he recognized that smile she had back in Sabaody and identified it as similar to that of Corazon. It’s just, something about her called to him, and as much as he hated that it dictated his actions, he would have hated it even more if he had ignored it. God knows what would have happened to her if he didn’t intervene. He was pretty sure she would have died, if it weren’t for his devil fruit powers.

“Captain?” He heard Bepo call him through the door, before opening it slightly and peeking his head to look at Law.

“What is it, Bepo?!”

“Um… There’s Boa Hancock and Emporio Ivankov waiting outside, demanding to see you.”

Law frowned at that. “When did we surface?”

“Uh… It’s only been an hour since we surfaced.”

“And they found us?!”

“Yes.” Bepo was a bit flustered. “They say they’re Strawhat Luffy’s allies.”

“It’s fine. Give me a minute, I’ll join you on the deck.”

“Alright.”


	13. Strawhat's strawhat

When he went out, he was greeted with the warlord’s livid face along with the huge head of the Revolutionary army’s officer. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’ve come to take Luffy-chan.” Boa stated… No, more like commanded.

Law tensed up. “She’s not here.”

Her hackles were raised. “What have you done with her, you dis-…”

“We didn’t come here to fight. We just want to check on her.” Ivankov tried to salvage the conversation, which got her a glare from the warlord.

Law considered her. “You fought alongside her, didn’t you?” Ivankov nodded. “Then, you know more than I do that she’s injured, badly. I can’t in good conscience leave her in your care.”

Hancock hissed at him. “Like hell, she’s staying with you.”

“Do you have a better alternative?!” Law growled. “I won’t risk the life of my patient like that.”

“We have doctors!”

“You don’t have me.”

“You’re a pretty conceited boy, huh?” Ivankov considered him, passively.

“I know what I’m capable of.” He replied.

“He did save us.” Jimbei’s voice came from the door as he struggled to reach them.

“Jimbei! Are you okay?”

“You shouldn’t be moving.” Law stated as a matter-of-factly.

“I heard some commotion. I had to come and see for myself.” Jimbei answered evadedly, only Law saw Ikkaku’s worried and guilty face looking away from him. He’ll deal with this later, for now, he had a warlord to deal with.

“Tch…” Boa huffed as she considered Jimbei’s input. “Then come with me… You shouldn’t wander the sea like that. The Marines could easily find you, especially with how Akainu’s dead set on killing her.”

“I thought the war ended.” Bepo exclaimed.

“Sure, it ended. But the marines’ still after all the pirates who participated. Especially Dragon’s kid.” Ivankov said a bit worriedly.

“Where do you suggest we go then?”

“Rusukaina.” Boa answered Law’s question. “It’s North of Amazon Lily… The Marines wouldn’t think to come check the island… They wouldn’t even dare. You’ll be safe. You can continue treating Luffy-chan there.”

Law considered her… “Isn’t Amazon Lily strictly for women?”

Hancock actually looked annoyed. “For Luffy-chan, I’ll tolerate your presence.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “So, your people won’t kill mine?” He chanced a glance in the direction of the Kuja Pirates who were looking at them disdainfully.

“You have my word… As long as you’re not harming her, you’re okay by my books.”

“Way to go, Captain.” Shachi cheered in the background, which earned him glares from both Law and Boa.

“Hey boy.” Ivankov called for his attention, which Law answered by looking back at him. “Why are you helping Luffy?”

He smirked at that. “Should I say that we’re friends? Would it make you feel better?”

Ivankov tilted his head at that before saying, “I take it she sucked you in, too, huh?!” His statement and subsequent laugh irked him, but not enough to actually respond.

Instead, Law looked in Bepo’s direction. “Follow the Kuja Pirates… I’ll go check on Mugiwara-ya.”

Just as he was about to go back into his sub, he got interrupted by Boa asking. “Can I see her?!”

The way she went from hostile to docile rubbed Law wrong, but he couldn’t really deny her that. “Sure… It’s not like she’s a prisoner. But try not to trouble her? She’s still in a critical condition.”

“Luffy-chan…” Jimbei whispered guiltily. “What happened after we blacked out?”

“I’ll fill you in.” Ivankov took the lead while Boa followed the surgeon into the room where Luffy was resting.

A couple of hours later, the Heart Pirates found themselves anchored on Rusukaina. Soon enough, they started their shifts in monitoring Luffy’s condition while Law tended to the Kuja Pirates’ many restrictions and conditions.

“Hey! Did you take the strawhat?!” Bepo asked intrigued when his shift came and he didn’t find Luffy’s namesake next to her.

“Uh… No… It wasn’t there when I came.” Penguin answered.

“Who was here before you?”

“Shachi.”

Bepo actually narrowed his eyes at Penguin. “It’s not nice to take other people’s belongings.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?! I’m not the one who did it, that’s Shachi.”

“Then get it back. I can’t go search for it because it’s my turn.” Bepo noticed Penguin looking at him with tearful eyes. “What?”

“You’re being assertive.” Penguin sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I’m just proud.”

Bepo sweat dropped. “Just get it.”

“Aye, aye! First mate!” The man on a mission rushed to Shachi’s quarters and barged in. “Where’s Strawhat’s hat?” Then he proceeded to laugh.

Shachi looked at him unimpressed. “You were dying to ask that, weren’t you?”

Penguin nodded as he tried to control his laughter. “No, but really! Where is it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Monkey D. Luffy… She has a strawhat. Where is it?” Penguin’s speech pattern became slow in an attempt to make his friend understand. “Bepo’s pretty livid about it missing.”

“It’s not with me!” Shachi argued, a bit offended.

Penguin narrowed his eyes at him. “Where is it?”

“You can be such an asshole. It’s not with me. It wasn’t there when it was my turn.”

Penguin tilted his head at him. “Huh… Who was before you?”

“Clione.”

“Then let’s ask him.”

“Why did you rope me into this?!”

“I don’t want to get killed alone when I end up reaching the conclusion that it’s lost.”

“So you’ll kill me with you.”

Penguin nodded. “Yeah.”

“Makes sense. I’m coming.”

They stumbled upon Ikkaku while they were rushing through the hallway. “What are you two idiots plotting this time?”

“Have you seen Strawhat’s strawhat?” Shachi burst out laughing this time which got him an unimpressed scowl from Ikkaku.

“SEE!” Penguin exclaimed, amused at his friend’s antics.

“You’re ridiculous. Nop! Didn’t see it. Why? Where was it supposed to be?”

“Bepo says that it’s supposed to be next to Luffy’s head on her bed.”

“Uh… No. Yesterday it wasn’t there.” Ikkaku said.

“Yesterday?!” Penguin’s jaw dropped. “Which shift?”

“The one after we reached the agreement with the warlord.”

“Who was there before you?”

“The captain.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“That he took it?!”

“Now that you mention it… He did put Kikoku next to Luffy.”

Ikkaku frowned. “What’s happening exactly?”

Shachi shrugged. “Hell if I know… We can ask?”

“Do you actually want to be cut into pieces?” Penguin asked him.

“Why would he be cut in pieces?” Jean Bart joined them in the hallway.

“How can you even move in such a cramped up space!” Shachi cried out, only to get punched by Ikkaku.

“Just shut up.”

“Do you know where Law is?”

“He’s somewhere outside, sitting with the rest of the crew looking out to the sea.”

“That’s very poetic.” Penguin said sarcastically.

“Wow, you really want to be cut into pieces.” Jean Bart shook her head.

Penguin flipped him off before rushing outside to where Law resided, only to find him holding the strawhat in his hand. This succeeded in making him lose his balance and fall down in front of his own captain. “Is there a reason why you’ve collapsed in front of me, Penguin?”

He lifted his finger, requesting a moment to get back on his feet. “Bepo’s looking for the hat?”

“Hat?”

“The strawhat.”

“Why does he want it?”

Shachi came complaining, “He accused me of stealing it!”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“He seemed pretty distressed at not finding it there.”

“Then just tell him, it’s with me.”

Ikkaku, this time, intervened. “Why is it with you?”

“I’ve been entrusted with it, it would seem like bad faith if I were to keep it next to her where you guys could take it.”

“Again with the accusations.”

Ikkaku ignored Shachi’s antics. “Yeah… But there’s Kikoku. You left Kikoku next to her.” She seemed to be a bit distressed at this fact. “I’ve never seen you without Kikoku. Why are you doing this?”

“I just…” He considered his next words carefully. “It’s a tradition, for people to pay respect to the battles fought and the lives lost.”

She looked at him, funnily. “I never pegged you to be this type of person.”

He glared at her. “You’ve been very judging these last few days Ikkaku.”

“I’m worried.”

“You don’t have any reason to be worried.”

She huffed before turning around and leaving them… Shachi stood there a bit dumbfounded. “What happened?”

“I’m gonna go tell Bepo what I found out!” Penguin rushed back in.

“Ikkaku thinks you’re going to do something reckless, captain.” Jean Bart explained.

Law hummed. “She might be right… But it’s still not the right time.”

They all looked at him weirdly, but he chose to ignore them in favor of looking back at the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next update might have to wait a whole week! I'm sorry for the possible delay (><) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!


	14. So much trouble

It was only a couple of hours later when his turn to sit next to Luffy came. He had brought with him a book to read while he monitored her; what he didn’t expect though is to be as startled as he was when he heard what came next.

“A-Ace…” A broken scratchy voice sounded next to him.

He looked down at his patient with wide eyes, feeling like he hallucinated hearing her talk… “Mugiwara-ya? Are you awake?” Instead of an answer, he only heard a sob quickly followed by tremors as she started kicking the sheets and scratching her arms with vigor. “Mugiwara-ya! Stop you’re gonna hurt yourself.” Her movement was about to knock the IV attached to her vein, so he scrambled to catch her hand and stop it before it can cause anymore damage than necessary. “Calm down!”

She gritted her teeth, obviously displeased at being interrupted and promptly shot out of the bed, knocking all the medical equipment down on the floor with her, as well as the oxygen mask she was hooked up on; he watched in stunned silence as her arm, the one he was holding stretched out the more she went farther. “Fuck!” He grunted, before throwing the book he still had in his hand onto the bed, opening a room and switching it with Luffy who fell unceremoniously on the bed once again. She frowned, clearly confused as to how she ended up back on the bed when she was obviously trying to escape.

“You’re so much trouble!” Law complained, “Are you going to move again?” This actually made her growl at him as if in defiance. “Answer me. Are you going to move again?!” He repeated more sternly. When no answer came, he noticed then that her eyes were still closed, tremors still coursing through her body and tears still flowing down her cheeks.

One moment he was contemplating his next course of action and the next he found himself moving onto the bed, scooting closer to where Luffy was and taking her in his arms, making her lean all her weight onto him. While busy freaking out, he heard her gasp, and felt her shivering increasing in intensity as another sob was set free.

It would be such an asshole move to back out now… So, Law did the only sensible thing where his free hand slowly traveled up her form before cradling her head, embracing her in his arms. “Calm down… Mugiwara-ya.” He wished Bepo was there instead of him; the polar bear would have known what to do and how to comfort her.

Despite him being so out of his depth at the moment, it still seemed to be working somehow; Luffy’s sobs could still be heard, the tremors were still there, but all the resistance she was showcasing before, all the fight she had before, just evaporated. Instead, her arms came up to clutch the back of his hoodie in a death grip while she cried.

Naturally, Law remained in that position for as long as Luffy’s cries lasted. Eventually, the girl passed out, her loosening grip signaling to Law that it was time to get her to lie back down. Once he settled back on his chair, he noticed that her strawhat was knocked down on the floor in his haste to stop her from injuring herself. As he went to pick it up, Jean Bart’s shift came around and he entered to the sight of an infirmary that is pretty much in chaos.

“What happened here?”

“She woke up.”

“This is her doing?”

Law raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s certainly not mine.”

“How were you able to get her to calm down then?”

The surgeon shrugged. “I’m out of here. Good luck handling this one.” He was honestly relieved that his shift ended… He wasn’t really ready to deal with whatever had transpired in there. He wasn’t exactly ready to actually acknowledge that it was unlike him to react the way he did. It was unlike him to care for a stranger, much less a possible rival/enemy. Yet, he did?

“Why do you look constipated?” Shachi asked him. Law didn’t deign the question with an answer and instead flipped him off. “Passive aggressiveness… You’re pissed. At who?”

“Stop bothering him, Shachi.” Bepo intervened as he casted a worried glance in Law’s direction.

The man in question didn’t want to deal with either Shachi’s teasing or Bepo’s obvious worry, so instead he just passed by them and went straight to his quarters, slamming his door shut.

“What’s up with him?” Shachi asked dumbfoundedly, as Bepo and he were still looking in the direction where their captain disappeared.

“I don’t know.” Bepo answered.

It was only a day later that their attention turned elsewhere as screams sounded from inside their submarine, before something came bursting out of it and onto the field where they were currently sitting, looking out at the sea.

“Strawhat! You can’t move. You’re still injured.” Shachi called out after her, looking pretty disheveled.

Cue the start of a game of tag where Luffy was chased by several Heart Pirates who were simply trying to get her to stop hurting herself, and a woman who was currently on a rampage. Law sighed, and looked in Jimbei’s direction. “If she continues like that, she’ll open up her wounds again, and she’ll die. I won’t be able to do anything after that.”

“We won’t get there…” Jimbei got up.

“You’re injured too.” Law pointed out.

“Not nearly as much as her.” The fishman glanced at Luffy who had just escaped into the depth of the forest. “I’m afraid the type of injuries we need to worry about aren’t the physical ones.”

Law hummed. “Do whatever you want. I don't care..”

That got him a weird look from Jimbei. “Is that why you’re still here?”

Before the surgeon could bristle and reply back, the former warlord went after Luffy, leaving the Hearts’ captain to deal with the pointed look of his crew. “He’s right, you know?”

“Shut up.” Law glared at Penguin.

“We deserve to know, Captain.” Ikkaku, ever the voice of reason, insisted. “It did put us in danger after all.”

Law huffed. “She’s my rival. But this isn’t how she dies.”

“Why?!”

“Clearly the marines wanted that win. I just took it from them.”

“So, it’s to spite the marines?”

Law nodded, hoping this would be the end of that conversation. Luckily for him, it wasn’t necessary because next thing he knows, a distraction caught his entire crew’s attention as a Sea King was seen floating and dead right in the middle of the Calm Belt. In came Rayleigh, in all his glory, having swam casually through the Calm Belt to get to where they all were. “Is Luffy-chan, here?” He automatically tensed up, his fingers tightening around the strawhat he was looking after. “Relax… I’m a friend.”

“D-Dark King Rayleigh!” The rest of the crew did not hide their surprise though, as Law stood up while Rayleigh marched towards him.

“She is here, isn’t she?”

Law nodded. “Jimbei’s with her.”

“Good. You can go now…” This made him tense up even more.

“What?”

“I’m sure you have other pressing matters than babysitting a rival captain, don’t you?”

“I’m not…”

“Is she still in a critical condition?”

“No.”

“Then whatever medical attention she may need can be covered by the Kuja Pirates.”

Law hesitated for a second, before conceding while looking back at his crew. “Fix the Polar Tang and prepare to set sail once again. We’re going.” The whole crew cheered in happiness while both Law and Rayleigh were sizing each other up.

“I’m not going to pretend to know why you did what you did. But I guess, for better or for worse, your actions are going to have huge repercussions in the world. I think you know that.” Law didn’t answer, but he didn’t shy away from Rayleigh’s studying gaze either. The old man finally broke the staring match to look down at the item he was holding in his hand. “Is that Luffy’s hat?”

“Yes…” Law considered it for a moment, before holding it towards Rayleigh. “Take it. She’ll want it when she gets back, wouldn’t want her to cause any more damage to my submarine than she already did.”

Rayleigh laughed at that. “That cheeky little brat. Thank you for helping her.”

Law shrugged, “I am a doctor. It's normal…” before turning back around and joining his crew once again.

The dark king actually chuckled at the captain's attitude. “Who are you trying to convince?”

Although pretending to be out of hearing range, Law was still able to hear Rayleigh's comment and it made him click his tongue in annoyance and frown. Unfortunately, Bepo heard it and turned in his direction looking worried. “Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry.”

Law got treated with Bepo's doe eyes filled with regret and worry. Tired from the whole situation, Law responded. “Nothing.” As he continued his walk back to the Tang, Law reconsidered his answer and looked back in Bepo's general direction. “You're doing just fine, Bepo…”

In retrospect, he definitely shouldn't have added this last bit, not when it ended up with him having to carry a huge polar bear back into the submarine as the mink snuggled the hell out of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life is getting busier and busier. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get more than one chapter out every week... So please bear with me, and thank you for your support! I really appreciate it


	15. She talked...

When Nami finally got some news concerning her captain, she did not expect something that devastating. She definitely knew that she’ll hear from Luffy eventually through the news because that’s Luffy… She always makes the news. Under normal circumstances, the news make her proud and scared at the same time. This time? This time it only made her feel completely and utterly useless. To think that after everything their captain did for them, there was not even a single one of them supporting her while she was fighting the world. To think that after everything, her captain watched her brother die and none of them were there to have her back. To think that after everything, they had failed so drastically… Nami felt sick.

Sanji only got the news by chance. He was totally embracing his new life as an okama until that newspaper fell into his hands. As the makeup and wig fell off, Sanji read in horror the whole story describing all the hardships his captain, his Luffy-chan went through. And he wasn’t there. Sanji wasn’t there when his captain needed him. He didn’t know what was worse. The fact that he swore to protect the ladies in his life, and so clearly failed. Or it was the fact that they promised to look after her, to the very brother that died in her hands, and they failed to uphold their promise. He was pretty sure he didn’t know the answer… All he knew is that, he failed. He failed. Like always. A failure. Luffy paid the price, and Sanji? Sanji’s hands shook.

In just a few days, Usopp stopped recognizing himself. The island Kuma sent him to was really weird. He did manage to make a new friend though, Heracles… He saved him several times from being eaten, and kept him company. It felt like he will never be able to get back to his crew. Usopp missed his found family. It’s been a long time since he called anyone family… To think that they were separated. It made Usopp tear up and feel completely helpless. Who was he kidding? It was crystal clear. He was no brave warrior of the sea. He was weak. He was weak and this weakness might have very well cost him Luffy. As he read the newspaper and everything his captain endured, Usopp felt weak.

Dr. Hiriluk was the only one who believed in him, who didn’t think of him as a monster, and the reason behind Chopper’s goal of becoming the best doctor in the world. It was him that allowed Chopper to actually grow past his loneliness and aggression. Luffy was a breath of fresh air… She believed in him, too, didn’t cower away. He tried to avoid joining the crew, but Luffy wanted him, even though he was a monster. She fought for him and protected Hiriluk’s flag. How could he say no to that? He wanted to discover the world, he wanted to protect his crew and he wanted to cure all the world’s diseases. All this knowledge though, what good did it do? He was unable to spare his captain the heartbreak. He was unable to save her brother. Chopper couldn’t stop his tears even if he tried.

As the Revolutionaries came to liberate them, Robin finally gained back her freedom. Somehow, she wasn’t really worried… She knew that eventually, her friends would come to save her, save them. Thinking back to how far she’s come, from that girl who doubted she’ll find anyone she can trust, to that girl who blindly trusted her nakama. This was all thanks to Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats. They set her free from the darkness that had swallowed her in. And for that, she’ll be forever thankful. Her freedom now came at the hand of Monkey D. Dragon’s Revolutionaries. In a roundabout way, Luffy saved her, again. The irony of it made her laugh. Until she learned what happened. At that, Robin’s laugh died out…

Who would have thought he’ll end up in the same place Dr. Vegapunk was previously? Looking at all the plans and inventions he had in his hand, Franky couldn’t help how his eyes lit up at all the prospective technologies he can develop. He’ll have to take as much plans as he can before joining back his crew. It was fast… The way he got used to and became attached to his other crewmembers. He recognized the way they all protected each other, and seeing how much they fought to save Robin, this definitely made him respect them even more. Not to mention how they made him want to build the ship of his dreams. Yet that newspaper was enough for Franky to tear apart most of the blueprints he had in hand.

To be fair, Brook didn’t develop the same bond as them; he was the newest member, after all. But what he saw in the few days he was around was enough to ascertain that he’s made the right decision in joining them. Between what Sanji and Zoro were willing to do for their captain, and the punch Luffy dealt to the Tenryuubito, Brook gained so much more respect for this crew that became his. He hated that they were separated like that. He hated that Luffy had to watch them disappear like that. He saw after all how shaken she was after Zoro’s confrontation with Kuma. He didn’t think though that it will come to this. He didn’t think that after losing them, Luffy will end up losing her own brother, too. He wished he had his violin. The situation at hand made Brook want to play.

Saying that his body was fucked up would be an understatement. Zoro’s body just stopped functioning, so it wasn’t surprising that he got his ass kicked by monkeys… It was shameful and a kick to his ego. He got separated from his crew, from Luffy, because he was weak. Because _they_ were weak. To be honest, they weren’t ready for the New World. As he sat incapacitated in the middle of the ruins of that gloomy island, he did not expect to see Mihawk approaching him. His stress levels shot up and he struggled to get back up, seeking Shusui’s support to pull himself up.

“Relax, Roronoa Zoro.”

He hated how weak his arms were and how much they were shaking. But what he despised even more is how his body listened to the greatest swordsman’s order. It was unable to fight. It had given up.

“Your injuries have pushed you far beyond your limits. But even if they hadn’t, do you really think that someone who can’t defeat the baboons is in any position to challenge me?”

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Zoro knew he was right. It was pointless. He won’t be able to deal any damage.

“Why… are you here?!”

“That castle is my home. What are you doing here?”

“One of your fellow Warlords, Kuma sent me flying here.”

“I see. So that’s why Strawhat was at Marineford with that other group.”

Zoro gasped at that, eyes widening, he looked up at Mihawk with renewed energy. “You met Luffy?! How is she? Is she alright?”

He wasn’t ready for the answer though. How could he? “She is most likely alive.”

“M-most likely?” Dread began to eat at him.

“Her heart has been dealt a grave injury.”

“What happened?”

Mihawk seemed to appraise him. “She has lost her brother.”

“What… Did you say?”

“Fire-Fist Ace died right before Straw hat’s eyes…” Mihawk was observing him, intently.

“Luffy…”

Zoro looked down, eyes twitching and feeling torn apart, completely exposed like a nerve. A nerve that Mihawk couldn’t help but poke.

“She talked.” The swordsman said quietly, but the only voices Zoro could hear were Shusui’s howl, Kitetsu’s distant screeching, Wado’s distant cries as well as the blood rushing to his head. Zoro felt a single tear slide down his cheek.


	16. Brute

“Captain… Where should we go?”

Trafalgar Law was lying down on the Polar Tang’s deck with his back propped up on Bepo’s sleeping body, enjoying the sun and contemplating what they should do after Rusukaina. “Let’s wait a bit.”

“For what?”

“We’ll make our move soon.” Law suggested. “We’ll lay low for now.”

“Okay.” Ikkaku nodded and went back into the submarine. Shachi and Penguin stayed behind and sat cross legged in front of the surgeon.

“Why do you think Rayleigh’s there now?”

“I don’t care.”

“For someone who doesn’t care you were pretty reluctant to leave.”

Law glared at them. “He gave me an order. I didn’t feel like following it.”

“You did anyway.”

“He made good arguments.”

“He was interested in Strawhat though.” Shachi pointed out.

Penguin answered. “Back in Sabaody he also said that he has wanted to meet her for quite a long time.”

Shachi nodded. “It’s just weird.”

“Since when do you ask so many questions?! Just go away.”

Penguin gasped. “Rude!”

“And uncalled for.” Shachi pouted, only for him and Penguin to be shambled out with two plates from the kitchen. This resulted in them falling on one of the shelves and breaking most of the plates there, messing up one of the cook’s meals. The psychopathic look they got from the cook made them scramble up and away before they lost their lives.

“See!! You can’t even walk!”

He was actually wheezing, Perona wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t have a choice.

“Why are you in such a hurry?! You’re wounded.”

“Because you told me what happened to Luffy. How can I stay still?!” He looked up from where he was leaning most of his weight onto his three swords to meet Hawkeye’s eyes. “I didn’t even know that such a huge war was happening. Are you sure that Luffy’s okay? Where is she now?”

“I told you everything that I know.” Mihawk answered.

Zoro gritted his teeth and turned away. “Then I’m sorry for bothering you.” He started walking away, only to stop when Mihawk started talking again.

“If you want a small boat, there is one on the west side of this castle.”

“Thank you for everything.” And he continued treading away.

The Humandrills didn’t exactly let him carry out his first plan, and Mihawk didn’t actually miss the opportunity to rub it in his face.

“It’s nice that you care about your friend so much, but they are strong. It’s almost sunset. Come to my castle. They won’t bother you there.”

This only grated on Zoro’s nerves. Despite the immense pain he was in, and the blood dripping down his face, he went back to look at the Baboons.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” He spat out. “I only take orders from my Captain.”

Mihawk huffed. “I see. Do whatever you want.”

“I’ve to make it out to sea. I don’t care if they’re warriors of the forest or whatever. I have no time to waste now! I’m gonna beat every one of them.”

“Stubborn.” Mihawk tutted before making his way back to his castle, while Zoro engaged in the fight he set his mind on.

It was only minutes later that Perona made her appearance, gasping at the state Zoro was in. Yet he was still fighting. “What the hell are you doing?!!”

“Shut up.” He grounded out, out of breath as he tried to get rid of his assailants.

“I’m so sick of tending to your wounds, you idiot.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

This made Perona grow angrier. “You ingrateful idiot! Bleed out. I don’t care.”

“Weren’t you supposed to not care?” Perona tightened his bandage to a blood stopping degree. “Oi! Oi!!”

“You deserve it, bonehead.” She hissed at him.

Zoro grunted. “Your voice is annoying.” His eyes widened immediately as he realized what he said. “It’s annoying, but don’t stop.”

She tilted her head at him. “You’re weird.”

He flushed at that. “Just keep talking.”

“Why?”

“Do I have to give a reason?”

“If you want me to continue talking, yes.”

Zoro actually glared at her. “I don’t care anymore. Do what you like.”

She bristled. “Hey!” She huffed. “Does it have anything to do with Luffy?”

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes while she continued to tend to his wounds while he lay on some rocks. “What about her?”

“You seemed to be completely shaken when Hawkeye told you that she talked.”

Zoro flinched. “Luffy’s mute.” This actually made the ghost girl gasp. “I never heard her voice. Not even when Kuma separated us… I always thought that I never would.”

“I didn’t know… I mean I never heard her when we met in Thriller Bark, but I didn’t know that she couldn’t talk.” She reflected. “I see…”

Zoro considered her. “Why are you helping?”

“You looked pitiful.”

“Oi…”

“You care about her.” Perona observed quietly as she continued her ministrations. “A lot.”

“She’s my captain.”

“Sure, that’s why.”

He looked at her. “What does that mean?”

“It means that… The way you talk about her is different.”

“How?”

“This isn’t how a subordinate talks about their captain.”

“With Luffy it isn’t like that.” He sighed in pain when she poked one of his open wounds. “She doesn’t see us as subordinates. We’re family.”

Perona hummed. “That must be nice.”

“She has always been there for us… And when it was the time for us to stand by her side and be there for her. We were separated… She was alone, and she’s still alone.”

After a couple of minutes of silence, Perona said. “It’s not your fault.”

“We should have done more; we should have been stronger.” Zoro gritted out. “What good is a crew that can’t support its captain?”

“You wouldn’t have made it in time, Zoro. Even if you tried…” Perona argued. “And she wasn’t alone. From what Mihawk told me, she brought with her escapees from Impel Down. People like Crocodile, Jimbei, Ivankov…”

“It’s different.” Zoro looked away. Once Perona finished, Zoro tried to get back up. “I have to get to her.”

“Oh no you don’t.” She pushed him back onto the rocks.

He growled at her. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

She hissed at him, “Instead of thanking me! What a brute…” He tried to push himself back up only for her to actually glare at him and push harder. “You won’t be going anywhere with your injuries. Do you actually think you can make it?! With your sense of direction, nonetheless?!”

“What the hell does that mean?!”

“Exactly that, you dipshit. I have never seen a hopeless case such as you. Don’t make me use my devil fruit on you.” Perona threatened him. “Stay still. Or better come back to the castle.”

“This again?!” The swordsman growled. “I won’t go back there.”

“Ugh! So stubborn. Why not?!”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Perona threw her hands in the air. “I can’t believe I’m wasting my time on an airhead like you.”

“You can go away, anytime.” He pointed out, only for Perona to continue talking over him.

“Why do I always have to deal with dumb people? What have I done to deserve this fate?! I tend his wounds and all I get is a dismissal! The nerve!!”

At that point, Zoro tuned her out and dozed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was able to write this quickly and thought that I should upload it.


	17. I remember

“Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“She has to be. Besides Luffy is strong… She’ll get back up.”

“You have a lot of faith in her, Shanks.” Yasopp remarked. “I’m always taken aback by how much you believe in her.”

“Like you’re one to talk?!” Shanks answered back playfully. “As if you’re not always gushing about your son. What was his moniker? Sogeking?!”

Yasopp actually perked up at that. “HE EVEN HAS A COOLER MONIKER THAN ME!”

“Here we go again.” Lucky Roo sighed while eating his piece of meat.

Benn Beckman came to stand next to Shanks. “Where do you think she went?”

“Rayleigh contacted us a while back… He said he had a hunch, and he’s out looking for her.”

“Rayleigh? That’s unexpected.”

“Not really.” Shanks smirked.

“You did plant that seed after all.” Ben remarked. “You’re still worried though.”

“Of course, I am.” The red hair answered instantly, and whirled around to look at each and every single member of the crew. “You’re all worried. It’s been a long time since I saw you this pumped up to join that battle. It’s not just me.”

Benn smiled a bit nostalgically. “She definitely left an impression.”

Yasopp grumbled. “An impression?! That’s a huge fucking understatement. We love her as if she’s one of us.”

“She might as well have been if the captain didn’t tell her no.” Lucky Roo looked pointedly at Shanks.

Shanks glared back. “You know damn well she wouldn’t have survived!”

“I still wish she stayed with us.”

“You’re an idiot if you think she wouldn’t have left either way to start her own crew.” Benn joined in on that conversation.

The whole crew sighed affectionately before looking down, worry written all over their faces. “I really hope she’ll be okay.” Yasopp said, sheepishly.

“You and I both. You and I both.” Shanks reiterated, exhausted.

“Where should we go, Shanks?” Benn asked.

Considering his options, the red haired emperor sat down on the deck and answered. “Let’s go to Foosha Village. I’m sure Makino and everyone are devastated.”

“Makino-san huh…” Lucky Roo looked at him suggestively.

“Shut up.”

When Robin accompanied the revolutionaries back to Baltigo, she did not expect to get to meet all the high ranking officers in her first week there. Nonetheless, she was directly led to Monkey D. Dragon’s whereabouts. After a pretty interesting conversation with her captain’s father, she was left to her devices as she observed the snowy season and tried to keep her body warmth contained in the coat she was wearing.

“Where are you Luffy?” She looked up at the sky, longingly as she began plotting her way back to Sabaody… Even though the three days had already passed, she had to make it back. They agreed to it after all. Before Kuma separated them.

Some commotion caught her attention as she watched two new figures approach the base, getting greeted by all the revolutionaries there. More like getting cheered on by the officers. The two were then escorted into the building by none other than Hack. That intrigued Robin, but not enough to pull her out of her plan to get back to her crew.

What did succeed in getting her attention was a blood curdling scream that made her turn around and look in the balcony door’s direction where she saw several members rush towards the sound with panic written all over their face. Soon enough, the officer that had accompanied her all throughout her journey to Baltigo came to join her, looking a bit sheepish. “Sorry if you were startled. The situation is being dealt with…”

“What happened?”

“One of our members… I don’t know the reason behind the sound you heard, but from what I know, he fainted, and he’s being transported to the infirmary as we speak.”

“So no immediate danger.”

“No rest assured.” He nodded at her. “Robin-san would you like me to lead you to your room?”

She observed him for a moment before nodding. “Please… I’m a bit tired. I also wish to leave the base to go back to Sabaody.”

“May I ask why? Is there anything that’s bothering you?”

“My captain. I want to go back to my captain.”

He smiled a bit in understanding. “I see. We’ll have that arranged.” He gestured towards the entrance back to the base. “After you.”

She chuckled at him. “What a gentleman! Thank you.” That got her a blush which made her actually feel amused.

After waking up, Robin went to eat her breakfast before leaving as planned. Only Dragon insisted on seeing her before she goes.

“You sure, you don’t want to stay here?”

She smiled a bit apologetically. “Thank you for saving me, and for welcoming me here… But I have to get back to Luffy’s side.”

“She does need some support… But from what I gathered from Ivankov, she’s in good hands.”

Robin observed him. “She gave us the order to meet again in Sabaody in three days… We’re already past the said date. But she will still want to go back there, or at least… she didn’t tell us otherwise.”

“Is it a good decision, though?” Dragon said. “Don’t get me wrong, but you’re not quite ready for what lies ahead. You have to be aware of that.”

Robin smiled. “It’s not my place to question her. I don’t want to question her. I trust her with my life, Dragon-san.”

He scoffed. “I'm not exactly surprised. She did get to you before we could. She’s got a good crew, too…”

“The best.” Robin nodded affectionately. “I’ll be taking my leave now.”

“Of course.”

She turned around and began walking away, only to stop and look over her shoulder. “If I may?”

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you go meet her? Why didn’t you go see your daughter?”

“It would put her in danger, and she doesn’t need me.” He said. “I missed my chance a long time ago, now it just doesn’t matter anymore.”

Robin frowned at him, “I’d say we’re long past the point where meeting you is a danger to her.”

Dragon smiled at her. “If there’s anything I know of my daughter it’s that, blood relations matter little. Your crew are more of a family to her than I will ever be.”

“I do agree it wouldn’t change much now…”

“Take care of her for me.”

Robin actually straightened up. “You don’t need to tell me, Dragon-san.”

“I know.”

She nodded and excused herself.

“He woke up.”

“Really that’s great…”

The man slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself up, looking around only to find his friends sitting next to him.

“I thought you were gonna die, Sabo-kun!!” Koala cried out with tears pouring down.

“You had quite a high fever, Sabo.”

She continued her cries, choosing to bend down and deliver a few blows on his legs in protest. “You’ve been sleeping for three days! And I’ve been worrying!” Sabo didn’t know what to say, instead he reached out and caressed her hair, making Koala calm down and look at him, worriedly. “What happened?”

Sabo sighed. “I remember everything.”

Both Hack and her frowned before widening their eyes. “What?! You got your memory back?!”

Koala was surprised to see Sabo slowly look down, deep in thought. “Yeah… I remember everything now. Including who I am and why I left home and sailed out to sea.”

“I see. That’s good…” Koala smiled tenderly at him, before seeming to realize something, “are you going to quit the Revolutionary Army, then?!”

After a few tense seconds of silence on Sabo’s end, he replied. “No I won’t…” That seemed to settle Koala. “Is Dragon-san still here?”

“He is.” Hack nodded.

“I need to talk to him.” Sabo said and got a hum from Koala.

“You should continue resting…” She told him.

“I’m okay, Koala. Really.”

She conceded. “So stubborn. Don’t go complaining if you faint again.”

“I won’t faint.” He extricated himself out of the bed, buttoned up his shirt and headed for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of cameos! I hope you like it.
> 
> Thank you for your support!


	18. The captain's brother

“Dragon-san.”

“Sabo… How are you feeling?” Dragon asked him while looking out from the balcony at the barren land in front of him.

“I’m okay… Sorry for worrying you.”

“Here to tell me what triggered this?”

Sabo nodded as he went to stand beside him. “As a matter of fact I am.” The No.2 of the Revolutionary Army looked up at their leader. “It’s Ace’s death…”

“Why?”

Sabo breathed in. “You and I met a long time ago… Before you saved me.”

Dragon met his gaze. “So you remember.”

“Everything. I remember everything… You were in the Goa Kingdom back then. Were you there to visit Luffy?”

“I knew she was there. But I also got information concerning a ploy that the royal family was preparing.”

“Yes.” Sabo clenched and unclenched his fist. “What you don’t know is that… I used to know Luffy and Ace.” That seemed to pick Dragon’s interest. “We were sworn brothers.”

Dragon nodded next to him. “I see… So that’s why.”

Sabo teared up. “I should’ve been there.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know that!” He replied indignantly. “It doesn’t make it any better though.”

“I know…”

Sabo sighed, trying to wipe the tears in his eyes not wanting Dragon to see him cry. “I have to find her.”

The revolutionary leader considered him for a second or two before noting. “One of her crewmates was here.”

Sabo actually startled at that. “Luffy’s crewmate?! Why is that the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“It’s recent. She only came here a day before you and Koala made it back.”

“Why was she here and not with my sister?”

“Kuma sent her.”

“Who is she?” Sabo frowned, knowing that Kuma meant for them to meet her.

“Nico Robin.”

The blond gasped. “And you let her go?!”

"And risk the wrath of my daughter?!"

This managed to make Sabo bark out a laugh. “That is true! Where is she now?”

“She said that she’ll be going back to Sabaody. According to her, Luffy should be going there to meet with all her crew.”

“So, what you’re saying is that I should follow her?”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“What do you mean?”

Dragon handed Sabo the most recent newspaper. “We just got this.”

Sabo held the piece of paper and read its content. “What about it?”

“The tattoo Luffy has says 3D2Y. Nico Robin mentioned a promise the crew made with their captain to meet back in Sabaody in three days. I think this is Luffy telling them that the meeting will take place in two years.”

Sabo observed the Revolutionary Leader and looked back down at Luffy’s solemn look in the newspaper. “That’s so not like her.”

Dragon actually scoffed. “If she got it, Nico Robin will be coming back here…”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I want you and Koala to train her.”

“Me?! I just told you I want to find Luffy.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this, Sabo. But, you need to let Luffy grow. Especially now.” Dragon insisted, looking apologetically at his No. 2. “She’s getting back up right now, on her own. Spare her the shock… Don’t set her back. Losing Ace was definitely not easy on her…”

Sabo’s hands shook at that and replied, his voice taking a reproachful note. “You want me to wait? After having been separated from her for more than a decade. And while she's grieving, alone. You still want me to wait.”

“If I’m not wrong… She’s taken the decision to postpone meeting back with her crew, so she could train and get stronger. Be readier for the challenges lying ahead. Rayleigh will be training her. I hate to say this, but you should let her focus on that now…” Dragon continued. “I’m not going to stop you, though. I’ll tell you what I know. Ivankov reported that Luffy’s last known place is in Rusukaina.” He walked back towards the building. “You’re her brother, I trust you’ll know what’s best for her right now.”

Left alone, Sabo looked up at the sky and clenched his fist, tears of frustration filling his eyes. “Fuck… When you say it like that, you jerk, you don’t leave me much of a choice!” The blonde then went and punched the wall right behind him with a low grunt.

“Did you calm down?” came the voice of Koala who went out to join him outside.

“Not really.”

“I overheard everything.”

“I’m sure you didn’t mean to.” Sabo replied sarcastically.

Koala chuckled. “I was worried.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“Of course, I do. Don’t be silly…” Koala punched him on his arm. “What are you going to do?”

“I will train Robin-san.”

“That’s obvious.”

Sabo looked at her from the corner of his eyes. “I’m not going to look for Luffy if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not even going to tell Robin that I’m her captain’s brother.”

“That’s good.” Koala nodded. “But you’re going to look for somebody, I presume.”

Sabo sighed, nodding while looking down at his trembling hands. “Ace… I’m going to look for Ace.”

She smiled softly at him, before getting closer to him and tugging his head down to her shoulder and softly carding her fingers in his strands. “Thought as much…” She felt him tense up against her, but soon enough his arms encircled her waist and his hands got a hold of her shirt. “You can cry, Sabo-kun… I know you want to.” He breathed in shakily and shook his head, Koala huffed and continued playing with his hair. “Nobody’s here… I closed the door to the balcony. It’s only me. Cry. Let it out, you’ll feel better.” Koala’s heart broke in answer to Sabo’s quiet sobs and trembles.

“For you, Robin-san.” The officer assigned to her handed her a newspaper.

Upon opening it, she saw Luffy standing with her iconic hat on her chest, a solemn look on her face. “Luffy! I’m glad she’s okay!” Smiling relievedly, Robin soon was surprised when she noted the tattoo on her captain’s arm. “So that’s what you decided.” Robin looked up at the officer. “Turn around… I will be staying with you for a while.” He seemed surprised for a moment, but he excitedly jumped up and went to inform the driver. “We’ll get stronger for you, captain-san.” Robin continued.

“I see, Luffy-chan!” Sanji closed the newspaper and smiled a bit dejectedly.

“What’s going on?” Ivankov asked him, before twirling around like a fool.

Sanji resigned himself to his fate. “I need to get stronger.”

This made the okama stop, and look back at him. “You’re not going to join her?”

“She wants us to lay back. Train. Get stronger.” Sanji huffed. “Such a selfish captain…”

Ivankov smiled down at him. “Is that so?”

Soon enough, Sanji clenched a fist and a fire ignited in him. “How can she decide to separate me like that from all the ladies of our crew?! And for two years! Luffy-chan… You’re lucky I love you.”

“Hah!”

“Honestly! She’s not even thinking about how we feel! And to think I was ready to fly down to get to her! How selfish.” Nami complained.

Haredas looked at her, questioningly. “Why are you tearing up, then, if you’re so annoyed?”

She punched him. “Shut up you! I’m definitely not crying.”

“So violent.” He cried out.

Breathing out smoke, Franky got back up and read the newspaper. “I see!”

This only earned him screams from the people surrounding him. Honestly, Franky couldn’t blame him… He was after all disfigured. But it’s okay! He’ll be suuuuuuuper, once again. Better than before. Captain’s orders.

A newspaper was thrown in front of him, with Luffy on the front page. “Luffy-san!”

Brook struggled to reach the newspaper, and when he finally managed to, he read its content.

“Is that so, Luffy-san…?” He smiled a bit sadly. “Well then! I have to do something too on my end.”

“Oh yeah!” Chopper exclaimed, tears filling his eyes. “I got it, Luffy!” He gasped. “I got it now! Okay! Okay!” He started crying in earnest as he remembered their separation in Sabaody and all the subsequent events after it, leading up to this moment. “Because she let me join her crew, I no longer care what people say to me! If it helps her… I can become a real monster. Luffy!!!”

“To make you the Pirate King, I’ll become the real King of the Snipers, Luffy!” Usopp cried out while running around the murderous plant island. “Just like you believed in me! I will believe in myself. I won’t let you down, Luffy! Wait for me!! Stay strong.”

Heracles watched his friend and smiled as he recognized his newfound drive. “I’ll help you get stronger, Usoppun.”

“There is an update on your captain!” This and Perona’s annoying voice startled Zoro to consciousness.

“What did you say!” He straightened up in record speed despite his paralyzing injuries and succeeded in terrorizing the soul out of Perona. “H-Hey, you! What did you just say?!”

She hissed at him. “You dumbass! You’re gonna open up your wounds again.” She kicked him in his stomach, sending him back down to the ground, writhing like a fish out of water. “Serves you right.”

“Bitch.” He mumbled.

She glared at him. “And here I was gonna show you the newspaper!”

He stopped his struggles and looked at her. “Show me?”

Huffing in annoyance, she handed out the newspaper in his direction. “Pathetic.”

He avoided her gaze and continued sheepishly. “Would you mind holding it for me? I don’t think I’m physically able to move a muscle.”

“You were fine a minute ago.”

“You fucking hit me in my stomach!”

“What a wimp.” She growled before floating to his side and holding the newspaper above him.

After 10 whole minutes of holding the newspaper still, Perona cried out. “Didn’t you finish yet?!”

“No. Stay still.”

Annoyed at his blatant dismissal, she hissed back. “I don’t care – just hurry up!”

Whatever dark magic he had going on, Zoro finally seemed to figure out the message. “She’s with Rayleigh. This must be Rayleigh’s idea.” The swordsman seemed to be a tad more serious than Perona expected.

“You don’t seem happy.” She retracted the newspaper and relaxed back into her floating form.

“It doesn’t matter. I agree with her. This is necessary.”

“What is?”

“Help me up?”

She squeaked out. “Answer my question, you jerk!” Nonetheless, she did start to pull him up.

“Annoying.” Perona let him fall back down, and turned and floated away.

“Oi!!! Come back here.”

“Ungrateful jerk. What have I gotten myself into?!” The ghost girl complained as she headed for the castle, completely done with the green haired idiot she was tending to.


	19. Gesture of good will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are solely thanks to mainly NekoUsagi1234 and Animefreak1145!!
> 
> This is my attempt to contextualize the Rocky Port Incident.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

Rayleigh and Jimbei sat a little further from where Luffy was standing, contemplating her hat.

“Are you sure this will be good for her?” Jimbei asked him, looking a bit worried at how still she seemed.

Rayleigh glanced in his direction, taking his eyes off his soon-to-be pupil. “You’re still doubting this is the best possible course of action, aren’t you?”

“She’ll definitely find it difficult.” Jimbei nodded. “You didn’t see her before. She was going on a rampage. The only thing that actually got to her was the thought of her crewmates…”

Rayleigh sighed. “There won’t be any crewmates left if they set off now. You witnessed it. Are you going to tell me I judged her readiness wrong?”

“No I agree. I just worry.”

“You’re very invested, huh?”

“Ace told me to take care of her when he’s gone.” The fishman answered, looking down at his bandages. “She gained my respect throughout the war. And I recognize her potential. I want her to reach it.”

“I’ll get her there.” Rayleigh scooted forward and tapped his friend’s shoulder in solidarity, before standing up and calling out. “Luffy!!”

The Straw Hat captain turned around upon hearing her name, smiling as she spotted Rayleigh and Jimbei. She nodded, looked back at her hat, traced its rim, the red ribbon and the stitches made by Nami, looked down at the scar she sported on her chest, then, finally, she took a deep breath and ran towards her trainer.

It’s been more than a year since the Paramount War… The Heart Pirates were finally making their move.

“Have we ever told you how creepy you can be?” Shachi commented while looking in horror at the crate filled with hearts.

Law didn’t even bother opening his eyes from where he was on the ground and leaning on a sleeping Bepo with Kikoku in his hand. “Want to join them?”

“Why do you always threaten us?!” Penguin complained, exasperated.

Jean Bart who was busy braiding Ikkaku’s hair scoffed. “You ask stupid questions.”

Penguin scowled. “We have 100 hearts. And we’re gift wrapping them and going to offer them to the marines.”

“Your point, Penguin?”

“WHY?!” Bepo startled behind Law and pushed to get up, disturbing the surgeon’s lying position. Sighing, Law got up and went to stand next to the crate. “Where are we taking it?”

“Nearest marine base.”

“Rocky port, then. We’ll need to stock up for our next trip.” Clione joined the conversation, providing input as to the lack of supplies.

“We’ll stock up first, then we’ll deliver our cargo.” Law said.

Shachi looked at him as if he had grown a second head. “What are you hoping to achieve exactly?” Penguin asked, genuinely curious.

“This is my ticket into the world government’s hierarchy.”

“Huh?!” Ikkaku frowned. “You always said that it’s a fucked up system.”

“And I’m gonna take advantage of it.”

Bepo observed him. “How does it end?”

Law looked briefly in his first mate’s direction. “With us separated.”

“I’m gonna be honest, I’m not liking it so far.” Shachi stated.

“Good thing I’m not telling you the rest.”

“Why though?” Penguin continued his line of questions, before widening his eyes as if just realizing something. “Who are you going after?”

“It’s obvious that it’s Doflamingo, Penguin.”

“DOFLAMINGO?” Shachi exclaimed. “You’re joining the warlords to face him? HE’s a warlord. Are you an idiot?”

“That’s rich coming from you, Shachi.”

“I’m just going to infiltrate one of his factories.”

“Where is it? And why can’t we join you?”

“Punk Hazard.” Law sighed. “I don’t want them to use you as a bargaining chip, if I end up getting caught.”

“Do you even realize what you’re asking of us, Law?” Ikkaku pointed out. “I mean where would we even go?!”

“It’s something that has to be done, I know you may not like it, but it’s happening. As for where you could go-”

Bepo interrupted. “We could lay low in my hometown. Zou… It’s a moving island, only those with a vivre card can find it.”

Clutching Kikoku tighter, Law nodded in acknowledgment and appreciation in Bepo’s direction, making the mink preen. “I admit my plan for you wasn’t as good as this one.”

“I don’t understand what’s that important about that Doflamingo person, that you have to go after him.” Jean Bart questioned.

“Plain old revenge.” Shachi answered.

“It’s a long story.” Bepo butted in.

“A very long one. You don’t have to know it though… I don’t think he’s comfortable opening up about it now.” Penguin looked in Law’s direction waiting for his confirmation.

“Will you be willing to wait for me until I get this thing sorted out?” Law asked, waiting for the answers of his crew.

Luckily for him, it ended up with the majority of them voting yes. With that subject ending, Shachi stated, “The other pirates are still chasing us. They’re very far, and we’re underwater right now, but thanks to Ikkaku’s devil fruit, Bijo Bijo no Mi, we have the Polar Tang’s image up there. The question is, do we want to lead them to Rocky port?”

“That’s the goal.”

“But how is it going to go? I don’t get it.” Shachi threw his arms up in the air.

Law glanced in Jean Bart’s way. “Can you stay here with the crate and protect Ikkaku?”

“Of course, captain.” Jean Bart seemed absolutely feral.

“Ikkaku, I want you to keep up the illusion.” The surgeon explained to which Ikkaku nodded to the best of her ability what with Jean Bart working on her hair. Raising an eyebrow at the display, Law continued, deciding to ignore it. “I’ll stay in range for my room to reach you, and will have a Den Den Mushi on me.”

“Are you going to answer my question?!” Shachi sighed.

Law actually smirked at that, “If it plays out the way I think it will, knowing who’s stationed there, I’ll eventually get invited into the Shichibukai system.”

“Where do you want my illusion to anchor, Captain?” Ikkaku asked.

“In front of the marine base. The Tang will stay underwater with Ikkaku and Jean Bart protecting and maneuvering it. The rest will surface with me, but before that. Uni I want you to tap into the marines’ channel.” Law looked at Uni. “Can you do that?”

The engineer with the Den Den no Mi perked up. “Of course! Count on me, Captain. We might need to get closer to the surface though, for me to reach the whole base.”

“Perfect. Then you’ll stay with Ikkaku and Jean. Keep me in the loop.” Law looked at the rest and went to explain the whole plan.

Looking back, the Hearts Pirates couldn’t help but be impressed at how the plan executed seamlessly and at the genius strategist that is their captain.

**_“I’ll start by appearing in front of the marines, this is where you come in Uni and your surveillance. I’ll take some of their hearts to ensure our safety, and we’ll negotiate the delivery of the 100 hearts._ ** **”**

**~~**~~**

At Uni’s input, Law was able to use Shambles to get inside the marines’ base, right behind Vinn and get his hands on his heart before he could even spot him. By the time the commodore noticed him, Law had used his combo move ‘Shambles-Mes’ to switch places with the other marine soldiers in the yard, collect enough hearts to replace each one with one of his crewmates. Much to his disarray, Law witnessed each Heart Pirate appear with a different embarrassing pose.

“Now that we’re all here. How about we get right down to business?” Law sat down on the very chair, the now livid but standing commodore was previously sitting on. Looking all high and mighty, the surgeon smirked. “I hope you don’t mind me sitting here, Commodore.”

“What the fuck are you doing here, Trafalgar Law?!” Vinn growled out, fists clenching and unclenching. “Here to surrender?”

It was Bepo who scoffed and stated, voice all steady and confident, taking in the powerful stature of his captain. “Does it look like our captain is surrendering?”

Silence reigned for a second or two. Tensions were high and getting quickly unbearable. Then it got interrupted.

“This was a rhetoric question.”

“In case there was any doubt.” Penguin continued Shachi’s previous statement, which prompted Bepo and the rest of the Heart Pirates to facepalm.

“Shut up both of you.” Law sighed, before crossing his legs, leaning forward and looking at the marines. “You’re gonna give me what I want.”

“And why would we cooperate with the enemy?” One of the soldiers challenged which only served to make the surgeon smirk ominously.

“You’ll get your hearts back for one. And on top of those, a hundred hearts of pirates with bounties higher than 50M.”

**~~**~~**

**_“They’ll definitely refuse. The marines’ Rocky Port base commodore Vinn is not a very compromising person, he won’t give in to pirates. But we will be free to move around in the island.”_ **

**~~**~~**

Vinn only seemed to be disgusted. “When they said you’re a sick person, they weren’t exaggerating. Trading favors for hearts, really?! We won’t negotiate with pirates.”

“Trust me when I say, you’ll come to regret not negotiating with me. I’m a pretty reasonable pirate… When I’m not angered.”

“Not in your dreams, Trafalgar.” Vinn scowled. “Now if you’re done. How about we bring you in?!”

All the marines soldiers’ weapons were suddenly trained on them while the commodore’s form changed to his hybrid form. “A cheetah, huh?” Law nodded, acknowledging his enemy’s new form and lifting up the hand that still held a heart. “Let’s play a game. Here kitty, that’s yours. Are you fast enough to take it before I make it disappear?” The commodore hissed at him and prepared to pounce, looking enraged, only for Law to end up deciding to squeeze the heart and make all the marines present in the room witness their commodore falling down, turning back to his human form, crippled and wheezing pathetically on the floor. “Well then… I think we’re done here.” Law stood up and went to join his crewmates, who seemed to be giddy at the display of strength they just saw. “Try to steer away from us while we’re running around the town… We need to stock up before leaving. A pleasure doing business with you. Although it ended up, unfavorably.” The Heart Pirates were about to leave, only the captain stopped midway and turned back to the gasping commodore with a shit-eating grin on his face. “You look pathetic, Commodore. Here…” He threw the heart in his hand in the general direction of Vinn, but falling short from reaching him and instead causing another jolt of pain to overwhelm the commodore’s senses as the rest of the marines scrambled to catch it and failed. “A gesture of good will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bijo Bijo no Mi (Vision Vision Fruit) ==> This is one of the non-canon devil fruits that appeared in the movie Stampede. I liked its concept (creates illusion from pictures... might not be restricted to pictures) and I gave it to Ikkaku, because I love her, and Law's crew needs a bit more attention.
> 
> Den Den no Mi ==> This is also another non-canon devil fruit. It's the perfect fruit for recon as it enables the user to tap into the network of Den Den Mushis undetected. Has audio and video access to the Den Den Mushis and is able to both receive and transmit signals. I gave this one to Uni. 
> 
> SO I kind of went wild with this, seriously. I did not expect that. And it was definitely not in my plans... I mean we were supposed to be already in the post timeskip. I'm pretty happy about it, not gonna lie. It's been a long time since I felt like I couldn't stop writing !! So thank you again NekoUsagi1234 and Animefreak1145!!


	20. Dr. Heart Stealer

**_“Our pursuers will arrive on the island… By then, Ikkaku, Jean and Uni can just surface, get rid of the illusion and join us_** . ** _The other pirates will encounter us and we’ll show them the illusion of the bounties we collected in exchange for their hearts.”_**

**~~**~~**

By that point, and having successfully led the enemy onto Rocky Port, Ikkaku, Jean and Uni rejoined the other Heart Pirates’ ranks. It didn’t take long for them to be cornered by the hundred pirates missing their hearts and their crews.

“You sure didn’t learn your lesson the last time we met, huh.” Law observed nonchalantly and with a completely aloof tone.

This only seemed to anger the enemy. “Return our hearts to us, you scumbag.”

“How about no?”

“We’ll kill you.”

“Would that really be wise?!”

“We have nothing to lose.”

Shachi jumped in. “You do realize, you’re outmatched, right?!”

“More than a hundred of us have you cornered.”

“More than a hundred of you are currently inside his operating room.” Penguin pointed out, amused.

“Huh?” A chorus of confused exclamations sounded, while Law simply unsheathed Kikoku and cut through the air in one smooth move. A second later, the pirates had all of their weapons in pieces. “What the fuck?”

“Did you really think you can win?” Bepo asked, looking a bit apologetic. “Our captain is a Supernova. You didn’t stand a chance.”

“Awh, look at him being all proud of you!!!” Ikkaku squealed at Bepo’s adorable declaration and nudged Law's arm, while looking in her his direction and seeing him actively pulling his fluffy hat down to hide his eyes. “So cute!”

“Shut up, you animal!” One of the pirates shouted at Bepo.

The first mate seemed to be taken aback, “I’m sorry…”

“Oh no…” Clione mumbled under his breath while the rest of the Heart Pirates watched in horror as Law’s glare turned completely icy and his grip on Kikoku tightened.

“So long, my friend.” Shachi stated, a bit saddened.

A second later, the pirate’s body was convulsing wildly on the floor while one of the fishes in the fish shop behind them was staring confused at its new habitat. “What did you do?!!!” One of this pirate’s friends asked

“Let’s just say that he’ll have to adapt to a new lifestyle. Maybe he’ll enjoy being an animal… Or be eaten as one… Who knows.” The pirates stared at him in complete horror, not daring to defy him anymore. “Now, we have a more pressing matter in hand. Your hearts aren’t with me anymore. I gave them to the marines and cashed in your bounties.” Ikkaku and Jean Bart moved away and revealed a bag full of bellis. “You see we were short on cash, and had to stock up, I’m not one for robbing people off their livelihood. I hope you understand… Your problem’s with the Navy, not me. We good?!” All the pirates nodded, not having much of a choice. Law gestured at the tattered remains of their firearms and swords. “You can reattach your weapons, they’re still functional. And who knows maybe you can get your hearts back. Your numbers far exceeds the number of soldiers stationed here. I’m sure you can think up something to get it all back and make it a win-win situation for you and I. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

**~~**~~**

**_“They’ll initiate a full-blown hostage situation in the whole island, trying to get the crate. We’ll watch. At some point, it will all go to hell.”_ **

**~~**~~**

“You are one hell of a mastermind, Captain.” Jean Bart exclaimed as the whole crew watched from afar as most of the villagers ended up involved in a hostage situation where the pirates were demanding that the marines hand them their hearts back.

Completely confused and agitated, most of the marine soldiers ended up calling for backup with Vinn sending in Koby and another task force down to handle the negotiation.

“We don’t have your hearts!” Koby exclaimed.

“Liars! Trafalgar Law showed us proof! Hand them now before we kill the hostages.” Some of the victims whimpered, grating on Koby’s still developing and overwhelming Kenbunshoku Haki.

“We don’t. Killing the hostages will just make this worse for you!”

“Stop wasting our time!! We’re not leaving here without our hearts.”

“We can’t give them to you, we don’t have them!”

“Fucking marine!” One of the pirates shot a hostage in his leg, and growled out. “AND NOW?! Can you give them?”

“Damn it!” Koby flinched and panic made his heart race, looking around for some kind of way out and finding none. “There is nothing to give! Please believe me.”

“Fuck you.” Another shot and a cry that made Koby’s eye twitch and his fist clench.

“What should we do, Lieutenant Koby?!”

Sweating, Koby exclaimed almost desperately. “I don’t know!”

**~~**~~**

**_“Vinn will want to put an end to the situation… He’ll come to us. They’ll take the crate. We’ll get what we went there for.”_ **

**~~**~~**

“Does anyone know where Trafalgar Law is?!” Vinn asked, irritated at the whole situation.

“No, Commodore.” The soldier answered.

“Fuck that guy!”

“See, Commodore. That’s not a very nice thing to say.” One of the Den Den Mushis on his desk morphed into Law’s appearance and transmitted. “When I told you you’d come to regret it, I wasn’t joking.”

“I ought to kill you.”

Law tutted. “We already established the power dynamic between us, how about we skip right to the point where you recognize you need those hearts and finally concede?” Chancing a glance in the direction of the hostage situation’s projection, Vinn gritted his teeth. “You only need to put the crate in a freezer and it’ll incapacitate these pirates long enough to extract the hostages. Or better. Just squeeze the life out of them… You have first-hand experience how much that shit hurts.”

“You’re a fucking psychopath, Trafalgar. Fine, whatever you wanted back then, you got it. Just hand them over.” Once again, the only response Vinn got was a tut. “What’s the problem now?”

“I’ll have to up the price. You declined my first offer, it’s only normal.”

“I don’t even know what you wanted back then.”

“Your problem not mine. Now ** _…_** ” The smirk on the Den Den Mushi only irked the commodore even more. “Warlord status.”

“Excuse me?!”

“When this whole debacle will end, and after my bounty shoots upwards, I want you to freeze it and make me a Shichibukai.”

“I don’t have enough authority to do that.”

“Don’t you want the crate?” Vinn cursed out an affirmative. “You’ll figure it out, then.”

“Just whatever, get this over with already.”

Law hummed. “I need a guarantee, though.”

Vinn snarled. “Take my heart, for all I care! Now move it, there are civilian lives at risk.”

Not a second later, he felt a hand push out his heart from behind him, and watched the organ fall in a cube in front of him and on the table. Suddenly and as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared again and the crate replaced it, filled with all of the hearts. The soldier that had been with him, looked both horrified and inspired by the commodore’s whole interaction.

Gritting his teeth, Vinn barked out an order. “Take those quickly to the freezer room! We have to put an end to this whole charade.”

**~~**~~**

**_“And I know. You guys are kind-hearted and won’t abide wi-”_ **

**_“You are kind-hearted too, Captain!” Bepo retorted, upset on his behalf._ **

**_Law looked away, and continued. “We won’t let it get to the point where someone dies.”_ **

**~~**~~**

Koby addressed the hostage takers, after having discussed a plan of action with the marines on the ground. “I would have told you if we had them. You would have known anyway, because we would have used them against you, and we would have handled this whole situation differently.”

This seemed to make the pirates hesitate, and this was all Koby needed before both his soldiers and him used their Moon Walk to reach the pirates, knock their weapons from their hands and incapacitate most of their enemies with their Armament Haki. Soon enough, most of the pirates were cornered and had marines’ weapons aimed at them.

The plan consisted in going in teams of two from the front, while from the back another backup unit called upon by Koby arrived to the scene. A pincer attack really. It all could have executed seamlessly if not for the small miscalculation of not taking into account the presence of snipers stationed around the scene; this error led to Koby being shot in the shoulder and falling on the ground with a cry.

“Snipers!” He shouted through his gritted teeth for the rest of the soldiers to protect themselves and the hostages, rushing them to safety and forgetting all about the other pirates, where some of them tried to run and escape, while the others pulled out knives and were preparing to attack the marines; all the while, other sniper rounds were fired, prompting Koby to shout out the names of the target, in an attempt to make them avoid getting shot.

It didn’t succeed in protecting him, though. Despite trying to move out of its way, one of those rounds seemed to change its trajectory and graze his leg in an unexpected way. “Gah!”

“Lieutenant Koby!” One of the marines tried to rush towards him.

“Don't! Get to safety!” His teeth grinded together, as he tried to pull himself up, but failed miserable. Taking advantage of the situation, one pirate loomed over him with a knife in hand.

He braced for the upcoming stab, closing his eyes, but instead, he heard a body thudding on the floor. Looking to his right, he saw his attacker writhing in pain with his hand covering the cavity that supposedly held his heart.

Confused and stunned, Koby didn't realize he was surrounded by his soldiers, until one of them started explaining. “It seems all the pirates are incapacitated, Lieutenant.”

“The snipers?” Koby asked.

They pointed towards several marine soldiers, waving at him from the vantage points of the soldiers. He smiled, feeling relief overwhelm his senses. “What about the hostages?”

“A medical team is handling them! Only a few minor injuries. They’re all safe.”

They showed him a Den Den Mushi with a connection to Vinn. “Good job, Koby. You did well…”

“How were we able to stop them? What happened?!” Koby asked, clenching and unclenching his fist as he tried to handle the pain while a doctor came to tend to his wounds.

“I got their hearts.”

“What?!”

“Just report back as soon as possible.” The Den Den Mushi disengaged.

“What the hell?” Koby stared confusedly at his subordinates, only for his frown to grow more intense as the medic in front of him finished.

_**~~**~~** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little less than 2000 words, but here we are! I hope you enjoyed this rendition of the Rocky Port Incident.  
> It is not canon!!!!


	21. Coming home (part 1)

As suggested, Koby and the rest of the soldiers reported back to the Commodore.

“When we got to the snipers’ vantage points, we found their weapons cut in pieces, while the bullets were practically tiny shards with no way to put them back together.”

“Concerning the villagers that we tended to, and although we thought they got shot, their bullet wounds were only grazes…”

“The knife this guy wanted to use to kill you was something like a toy? If that’s even possible.”

“The snipers that shot you admitted they had aimed for your head, but the bullet seemed to have a mind of its own, and changed its course.”

“We found the escaped pirates cut in half and tied in ropes.” One team leader finally stated. “Surveillance Den Den Mushi show Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates there.”

The observations rained down on Koby and Vinn, who seemed completely taken aback. “So, what you’re saying is that, Trafalgar Law was there the whole time.”

“The Heart Pirates were there the whole time. One of our surveillance Den Den Mushi recorded them sitting on top of the marines’ tower, most of the time, observing with their captain moving his sword and his hands around, mumbling some words.”

“Apparently, he left us a message with one of the escaping pirates his crew tied up.”

“What are you waiting for?!” Vinn growled out. “Say what it is.”

“‘A gesture of good will. Keep your end of the bargain.’. This is what it says.”

“Where is he now?!”

“The villagers say they saw him leave.” A marine stated.

“What a fucking bastard.” Vinn growled.

“He could have been worse… He kind of helped out. Even though, he’s the one behind it all…” Koby tried to argue, his tone unsure. “He saved Luffy-chan, too…” He continued in a low voice.

“What did you say?” Vinn asked pointedly.

Koby jumped at the question. “Nothing! Nothing! More importantly… What bargain is he talking about, Commodore Vinn?” Koby asked, slightly confused as he recognized he’s still missing the key reason behind the crate being in their possession now.

“We’ve got ourselves a new Warlord, Koby.”

“HAH?!”

“And you’re getting promoted to Captain and going back to HQ…”

“EHHHHH!!!”

“DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON THEIR FACES?!” Shachi burst out in laughter.

“It was iconic.” Ikkaku smiled as she remembered the whole plan.

“Of course, it was, Law made it so.” Bepo looked proudly in Law’s direction.

“Shut up.” Law mumbled under his breath, looking away.

Bepo’s head immediately bowed down. “I’m sorry!”

“You really want him to blush, huh?!” Penguin stated amusedly. “Throwing compliments left and right!”

“Like… We know you’re his favorite! No need to rub it in.” Shachi teased Bepo.

“I’m not his favorite!”

“You’re the most likely to make him blush! You’re also the only one who can get away with saying stuff like that without losing limbs.” Shachi’s eyes turned absolutely psychotic. “WHAT’S YOUR SECRET?!”

“Stop upsetting him.” Law glared at the red hair.

“SEE! He even defends you.”

“I wouldn’t push your luck, Shachi.” Jean Bart advised him.

“He’s physically incapable of doing that.” Ikkaku pointed out, just as Law swung his sword.

~.~.~ A YEAR LATER ~.~.~

It felt like coming home.

After 2 years of training, and half a year of being alone, Luffy couldn’t help but feel excited as she finally stood in front of her straw hat and the prospect of seeing her friends again. She slowly traced her finger around the red ribbon, the stitches Nami made and finally the vivre card she had left on it. She then took ahold of it and placed it on top of her head. A small smile etching its way onto her face.

“Luffy-chan!!” Boa called for her as Margaret led her to where the Kuja pirates were waiting. “Ah!! You look so much stronger, sweetie.” The warlord fussed over her, looking really proud of the girl she came to know and the one who did not look at her differently when she discovered her history.

Luffy waved at her, genuinely happy at spotting her friend. Hancock approached her with a relieved smile on her face, “Are you okay? How were those 2 years? Rayleigh annoyed you in anyway?!” A tick appeared on her forehead. “I will make him pay!”

Luffy shook her head and smiled up at the snake princess; this made Hancock coo at her before catching both of Luffy’s hands and looking her in the eye and exclaiming. “I brought you new clothes! Wanna try them out?” The Strawhats’ captain nodded and followed her to their ship. “Let’s go, girls! We don’t want her to be late for the reunion! I’m sure she misses them a lot. No need to prolong the torture.” This actually made the Kuja pirates cheer before hurrying on to their tasks as their princess led their guest to the fitting room.

When he got to Sabaody, he certainly did not expect he’ll end up losing as much blood as he's lost till now. It wasn’t his fault. After 2 years of living with the abominations, it was only normal for his nosebleed to act up at the sight of a beautiful lady. “Viva Sabaody!” Sanji exclaimed suddenly as he went chasing after one pink-haired woman, trying to get as far away from him as she can.

Eventually, he went back to his initial mission which was to stock up for their trip to Fishman Island, knowing Luffy’s appetite he will need to get a lot of stuff. This is what led to him walking to a fish store and finding the owner completely disgruntled and looking in the sea’s direction.

“Hey you own this shack?!” The guy remained shocked, but was now gasping for air, his hands pulling at his hair as panic set in. “What’s wrong?!”

The old man turned in his direction, worry written all over his face. “That green haired man was taken by the pirates.”

Sanji stopped in his tracks, sighed and reached into his pockets to pull out a cigarette. The following conversation will definitely call for one. “Alright… Talk.”

“I told him to get on the fishing boat! But he got on the wrong ship and now he dived to Fishman Island with a pirate crew!!”

Sanji’s exasperation worsened as he lit up his cigarette and breathed in the smoke. He then opened one of the few wanted posters he still had at hand, and showed it to the old man. “Is that him?!”

The old man perked up. “Yes! That’s exactly him… Missing an eye, but unmistakenly him! You’re his friend?!”

“Well I wouldn't go so far as to call him my friend… But I do know him.” He took a drag. “At least now we know where that airhead is headed.”

“It’s a pirate ship! Maybe they’ll kill him, how can you be so relaxed?!”

“No, no, it’s okay! It’s not your fault at all. He’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, the calm water began to slosh around widely as if something huge was disturbing its quiet. Not seconds later, a huge galleon broke through the surface. No… A huge cut up in half galleon emerged. Sanji’s cigarette fell from his mouth as he gaped at the scene in front of him.

“It’s a quirk of fate. You should blame your own fate that brought a plague onto your ship.”

Sanji felt a vein pop out. “What are you going on about, you idiot?! Talking like you didn’t lose your way. AGAIN.” The cook turned away from the scene, completely uninterested and annoyed, that _he_ was the first crewmate he encountered in Sabaody. “Why couldn’t it have been Nami-swan? Or Robin-chwan?! Or even Luffy-chan?! Why do I always have to put up with this good for nothing fool?”

“Oh! Number 7 you’re here.”

His hackles raised in a record speed, as he spun around and caught Zoro’s green coat, shouting in his face. “Who are you calling number 7?!”

Zoro looked away, having the audacity to look annoyed. “You’re the one who’s late.”

“Stop referring to us according to our arrival rank.”

“Okay, Number 7.”

Sanji scoffed in his face, drew in the cigarette’s smoke before puffing it out in Zoro’s face, making the swordsman cough. “Fucking pain in the ass. Why do I always end up babysitting you?”

Zoro was about ready to engage in a fight with the cook, when Sanji stopped him, tensing up suddenly and raising his hand in a clear signal for the idiot to wait. A second later, the blond turned to his right and a genuine smile etched its way onto his face.

“She’s here.” Zoro announced putting into words what Sanji realized just now.

“And she’s already attracting trouble.” Sanji scoffed, fondness and a sense of belonging filling his heart as he began walking towards the sounds.

“Isn’t she always?” Zoro actually smirked before following his lead. A second later, Sanji was flying in the air with another serious case of nosebleed. “What the fuck, swirly brows?”

Sanji dabbed at the blood pathetically, but his heart eyes remained. “I’m finally going to see Luffy-chan.” The green haired man regarded him pathetically. “Shut up! You don’t understand, the torture I’ve been through.”

“I don’t care. Just get a move on. We have a captain to reunite with.”

Sanji observed him a bit and pointed out. “You’re just as excited as I am.”

“I don’t go bleeding out like a creep.”

“That’s not exactly a ‘no’.”

“What if I am?”

“I’d say you’ve become very mushy mushy in these 2 years.” Sanji commented nonchalantly which prompted Zoro’s blue fiery blaze to be unleashed onto him.

“You wanna fight, ero-cook?!”

Vein popping out, Sanji answered in kind with his fire. “Sure you can handle it, mushy mushy?”

The sudden explosion of a mountain far away brought them out of their headspace. “This is a very Luffy thing to do…” Zoro commented.

“I couldn’t agree more, mosshead.” Sanji fixed his tie, in an attempt to get his anger in check. “Let’s go.”

“Che… Don’t order me around.” Zoro snarled at him.

“Stop being such a baby!” Sanji growled back. “It’s as you’ve said. We have a captain to catch.”

**Author's Note:**

> So the idea kind of sprung up on me and next thing I know, I started writing it. 
> 
> We'll be kind of retelling (very quickly) the whole One Piece adventure up until Wano (hopefully). Some things might end up being different, but it will roughly follow the same storyline?
> 
> Let me know what you think of it.


End file.
